
((lass 

Book 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 




A Complete and Comprehensive Description 

OK THE 

AGRICULTURAL, 

STOCK RAISING AND 

MINERAL RESOURCES 

OF KANSAS. 

Also Statistics in t*egapd to its Climate, etc., 

Compiled from the Latest Reports of IH9I. 

Prcs>n/r<f tv//// f//e Complhncnts of the 

Passenger Department, 



THIRD 




EDITION. 



WOOOWARO <, TIERNAN PRINTINQ CO 
&r. LCUie. 







'-J ' > =;ieC 



— THE — 



RESOURCES AND ATTRACTIONS 



KAN S AS 



Home Seeker, Gapitalist and Tourist. 



FACTS ON CLIMATE, SOIL, FARMING, STOCK RAISING, DAIRYING, FRUIT 
GROWING, GAME AND FISH. 



r 



WITH THE COMPLIMENTS OF THE 



./'J, > - PASSENGER DEPARTMENT. 




THIRD AV^^^i EDITION. 



ST. LOUIS. 
Woodward & Tiernan Printing Co., 309-319 Nokth Third Stbbbt. 

1892. 



Copyright, 1892, by E. L. LOMAX, General Passenger and Ticket Agent, 
Union Pacific System, Omaha, Neb. 



.M^'2- 



A COMPLETE 
AND COMPREHENSIVE 
DESCRIPTION OF TPIE RESOURCES 
OF THE STATE OF KANSAS; ALSO STATISTICS IN 
REGARD TO ITS CLIMATE, ETC., COM- 
PILED FROM THE LATEST 
REPORTS OF 1891. 



Omaha, March, 1892. 



AN OUTLINE. 



A State which in 1889 produced 276,500,000 bushels of corn and 
40,000,000 bushels of wheat, and has 16,000,000 acres of land under cultiva- 
tion, does not need an introduction. Her record speaks for her; and that 
record shows she has 1,500,000 inhabitants, 500,000 children in the public 
schools, 8,656 miles of railway, a delightful climate, rich soil, low taxes, and 
small debt. Kansas leads every other State in the Union on the average of 
winter wheat, and she is also developing the sugarcane industry more than 
any of her neighbors. Land in desirable localities can be bought cheap, 
and on ten years' time. The time of her tribulation is passed, and she now 
offers to the home-seeker as fair and fertile land as can be found anywhere 
in the Great West. 



KANSAS. 



The name "Kansas" is an Indian word which means " smoky water," 
and was originally applied to the Kansas or Kaw River, which runs through 
the State. The region now known as Kansas appears to have been visited 
by Spaniards in 1541 and explored by the French in 1719; it was a part of 
the Louisiana purchase of 1803, and afterward formed a portion of the 
Indian Territory. Organized as a Territory in 1854, it was admitted as a 
State into the Union in January, 1861. Kansas has an area of a little over 
81,000 square miles; it is 400 miles in length and 300 miles wide, and has a 
frontage of 150 miles on the Missouri River. 

This is about equal to the area of Great Britain, one-fourth larger than 
all New England, more than double that of Kentucky, or Ohio, or Indiana, 
and nearly twice as large as either New York, Pennsylvania or Tennessee. 
Its whole surface is a continuation of the "Plains" that stretch from the 
Rocky Mountains eastward through Colorado. Its north line along the 
State of Nebraska is considerably higher than its southern boundary on the 
Indian Territory. Hence, in traveling westward to Denver, we ascend con- 
tinually; where we cross the Kaw River at Kansas City, we are only 7G0 
feet above the sea level; where we enter from Kansas into Colorado, some- 
what beyond the 444th mile post, we are 4,000 feet above the sea, and at 
Denver 5,270 feet, although 20 miles east of this city, at the crossing of 
IJox Elder Creek, the elevation is 5,550 feet. A glance at the map shows the 
water courses to follow this general pitch of the surface, south and east. 

Kansas occupies the exact geographical center of the United States, 
midway between the two oceans on the east and west, and British America 
and Mexico on the north and south. 

An embossed relief map of the State, would be quite smooth, since there are 
no mountains and hardly any hills, while the valleys of the principal streams 
are flat and rarely more than two hundred feet below the general surface of 
the surrounding high prairie. There is probably not a single square mile 
in the whole State on some part of which the plow cannot be used; and the 
totally untillable tracts amount in the aggregate to a very few square miles. 
If there were no cities and towns in the State, and it was occupied only by 
a farming population, with one family of five persons on every quarter sec- 
tion (160 acres), it would be the home of 1,000,000 souls. Its capacity for 
crops is endless. " The number of successive crops previously grown on the 
land even up to the fifteenth, shows no perceptible deterioration in the soil, 
although no fei'tilizers have been used." 

It was settled by and is still attracting the most wide-awake, energetic, 
and highly intelligent people from the eastern and central States and 



8 KANSAS. 

foreign countries. This, together with its glorious, healthy, invigorating 
climate, has made the development of the "Sunflower State" simply won- 
derful. Just look at a few figures : — 



Year. 


Population. 


Acres in 
Cultivation. 


Assessed for 
Taxation. 


Bushels of 
wheat 
raised. 


Bushels of 

corn 

raised. 


Cattle. 


1855 


8,600 
107,200 












1860 


272,835 










1861 


$ 24,737,459 
36,126,000 
92,000,000 
121,544,844 
160,570,461 
277,575,353 
348,459,943 








1865 


135,800 
364,400 
528,350 
995,960 
1,268,530 
1,423,485 


273,903 

1,360,003 

4,749,901 

8,868,885 

14,252,815 


191,519 

2,391,000 

13,209,403 

25,279,884 

10,859,401 


729,236 

17,025,000 

80,798,769 

101,421,718 

194,130,814 




1870 


373 967 


1875 


703,323 
1,115,312 
1,973,018 
2,201,000 


1880 


1885 


1890 











If the present number of horned cattle were all destined for the supply 
of the city of New York, and thej were started, five abreast, the heads of 
one rank just a rod in advance of the next, and they were driven through 
Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and the Empire State, the 
head of the herd would be crossing High Bridge over Harlem River, New 
York, before the tail had crossed the Missouri at Atchison. 

To move our last crop of wheat will require 108,000 cars, which in a 
solid train would enter with its locomotives the city of Columbus, Ohio, 
when its caboose would just leave the depot at Kansas City, Mo. 

Our corn crop for 1889 required 690,000 cars, which in one solid train 
would reach from Portland, Me., by way of Chicago and Minneapolis, to 
Portland, Ore., thence to San Francisco, and back over the mountains to 
Denver. 

The time by which not only the railroads but also all business is regu- 
lated in Missouri and Kansas, is "Central" time — 90° meridian — until we 
nearly reach the west line of the State, at Wallace ; from there we reckon 
by "Mountain" time— 105° meridian — which is one hour slower. 

LEAVENWORTH. 

Any stalwart citizen of the beautiful city of Leavenworth will promptly 
deny all claim for hot-house growth or boom craze for that attractive town. 
As one of the termini of the Union Pacific railway, Leavenworth is sturdily 
pushing to the front in commercial importance. It is situated on a high 
plateau on the west bank of the Missouri River, twenty -five miles above 
Kansas City, the site is rolling, and furnishes a perfectly natural system of 
drainage. In thirty-four years the city has reached a population of 36,000. 
Cantonment Leavenworth was founded in May, 1827, by Col. Henry Leav- 
enworth, of the Third U. S. Infantry. The town site was claimed and 
settled upon June 9, 1854, by a company of thirty-two persons, and as this 
was the first town settlement in the Territory, Leavenworth very properly 
claims to be the oldest town in the State of Kansas. 

The surroundings are more than ordinarily picturesque. Fort Leaven- 
worth is one of the most magnificent military posts in the country, and 
located there are the military prison and officers' "School of Occupation." 



KANSAS 9 

" Sheridan's Ride," a lovely bit of winding road which creeps around the 
crest of the hills to the north of the Fort, was named in honor of gallant 
Phil when he was commandant of the post. There are numberless walks 
and drives In the spacious grounds of the Soldiers' Home, located south 
of the city, where 1,200 veterans find sumptuous quarters. The subsist- 
ence department, one of the most important at the post, has charge of all 
the nec(!S9;iry stores for the Department of Missouri. The amount of rations 
issued through the post is about 80,000,000 pounds a year. 

But there are advantages beyond pretty scenery. Leavenworth is situ- 
ated in an exceedingly rich agricultural district; wheat and corn are pro- 
duced in great abundance, and cattle-raising forms a very large item among 
the products of this section. It is not generally known that this modest, 
conservative city contains the third largest stove manufactory in the 
United States, or that she stands in the center of twenty-five miles square of 
coal. Experts estimate that the city is actually located on a surface cover- 
ing 28,000,000,000 bushels of coal ! There are three shafts now being oper- 
ated quite close to the city, and 'uhese are dry and free from gas. The 
bituminous coal produced is of excellent quality and exceeds in heating 
power any other coal of like character brought to this market by over 30 per 
cent. There are 110 manufactories in Leavenworth — immense works for 
the making of mill machinery, steam engines, bridge and iron work, and all 
prospering. There seems to be no question as to the healthfulness of the 
climate or the very great natural advantages of Leavenworth for a manu- 
facturing center. The citizens are earnest encouragers of all new-comers, 
the taxation on all industries settling here being very low; the country 
tributary is rich and developing with amazing rapidity. 

The country between Leavenworth and Lawrence is recognized as one 
of the very finest fruit districts in the West. Apples, pears, peaches, 
apricots, and grapes are grown all along the line. The surface of the 
country is rolling and well wooded and watered. The villages of Lansing, 
Fairmount, Tonganoxie, and Reno are pleasantly located, prosperous, and 
growing points. A ride of thirty-four miles through this charming district 
brings us to the historic town of Lawrence. 

LAWRENCE. 

To the traveler leaving Kansas City for the first time, westward bound, 
on the Union Pacific, the valley of the Kaw is a surprise and a revelation. 

Kansas to him has been a familiar word for "Lo these many years;" 
and now, as for the first time he finds himself upon Kansas soil, he Is 
amazed to find how different is the real country from the Kansas of his 
fancy. The broad and fertile farms, the running streams, the flourishing 
villages, bring home to him the conviction that he has been all "at sea" as 
to facts, and he is lost in admiration as the truth dawns upon him and 
he sees the wonderful panorama unrolled before him. Forty miles, swiftly 
flown, lands one in the historic city about which so much has been written. 
Lawrence present and Lawrence past arc interesting topics. The river is 
crossed by a substantial iron bridge, and from this point one obtains an 



10 KANSAS. 

excellent view of the manufacturing Indu^ries of Lawrence. A stone dam 
spans the river just below the bridge, malving one of the finest water-powers 
in the State. Above the dam lies a smooth stretch of water, the shores 
lined with ice-houses. Fifty thousand tons of ice are stored here annually 
and shipped over the South and West. At the south end of the dam are the 
water-wheels that furnish power to a dozen different establishments, the 
power being conveyed by a system of wire cables to points distant from the 
river. One sees from this point four large flouring mills with a total daily 
capacity of from eleven to twelve hundred barrels of flour, with a total 
storage capacity of 350,000 bushels of wheat. 

Lawrence is a manufacturing town of no mean rank, and in the nature 
of things it is destined to grow rapidly in this direction. Its railroads bring 
it into close connection with all the great systems; its magnificent water- 
power, its exceptional educational and social advantages, all help to make 
it an ideal town for the location of manufactories of all kinds. A first-class 
hotel with all modern conveniences occupies the identical spot where stood 
the Free-State Hotel destroyed by the border ruffians in 1856, and the 
Eldrige House, burned by Quantrell and his murderous crew in 18G3. On 
the summit of Mount Oread are situated the buildings of the State Univer- 
sity, admitted to be one of the very best educational institutions west of 
the Alleghenies. From the tower of the main building one has a delightful 
view: at our feet lies the beautiful city, its elegant residences and comfort- 
able homes hidden by the mass of foliage — trees, trees everywhere; and 
remember that only thirty years ago all this was a barren prairie, without 
a tree save the few that lined the banks of the streams. Beyond the town 
on every side stretch the fertile farms of Douglas, Jefferson, Leavenworth, 
and Johnson counties, while through the center of the picture runs, like a 
silver thread, the Kansas Eiver. On the level plain below us are the exten- 
sive buildings of Haskell Institute, the United States Indian School, and 
after a hasty glance through the buildings of the University, including 
Snow Hall, one of the finest Natural History buildings and collections in the 
country, we visit the Indian School. We find that Haskell Institute, under 
the charge of Charles Robinson, the first Governor of Kansas, is rapidly 
taking a front rank among the Indian schools. Its substantial stone build- 
ings are roomy and well ventilated, and, with the new ones now in course of 
erection, will afford comfortable quarters for its four or five hvindred pupils. 
With time for but a cursory examination of the Institute, we find much to 
interest and please and to impress us with a sense of the magnitude and 
importance of the work done by the Government in educating the Indian 
children. 

Lawrence is in the center of some of the finest farming lands of the 
State, and is a shipping point for stock, grain, fruit, and farm products. 
The early days in Kansas were stirring times, and Lawrence stood the 
brunt of those first outbursts which bore such bitteraresults in the after 
years. The town was twice burned, — first, when a little village, on the 
21st of May, 1856; secondly, on the 21st of August, 1863, by Quantrell 
and his band. The rebel raiders were but five hours in the town, — from 
five in the afternoon iintil ten at night; but these were five awful hours. 



KANSAS. 11 

Seventy-five business houses and one hundred residences were burned, 
143 citizens hiy dead in the streets, and tliirty were badly wounded; eighty 
widows and 250 orplians mourned tlieir dead, and the busy, i^retty city 
suffered the immense loss of 83,000,000 in property destroyed. Full of 
storied interest is the historic town. Here really began the great battle, 
and from these lurid gleams of outlawry in Kansas sprang the flame which 
swept over the Nation for those four desperate, immortal years and 
smoldered out forever at Appomattox. ! 
Just before we reach Lawrence, we pass 

BISMARCK GROVE, 

The handsome exposition grounds and race course owned by the railroad 
company. Perhaps wo may catch a glimpse of the herd of buffalo, which 
has been kept here fur years, — the only surviving remnants of their once 
immense numbers, when with the Indians they shared the whole country 
far to the west. 

KANSAS CITY 

Is a shining example of that splendid pluck, energy, and enterprise 
which is building and shaping this vast empire of the West. It is a city 
which eastern men should sec; for the tales told of its marvelous growth 
in population and commerce resemble the feverish dreams related by 
"castle builders," and one fancies that the sharp daylight of actual 
inspection will dispel the Illusion. But the miles of solid blocks, the 
ceaseless ebb and flow in the busy streets, the manifold industries, 
confirm the story that Kansas City is strongly founded, and peopled 
with a class of citizens who are supremely active, alert, and aggressive. 
It is built in a crescent on the south bank of the Missouri, at its confluence 
with the Kansas River. It is 283 miles from St. Louis, 503 from Chicago, 
614 from Cincinnati, 1,308 from New York, 300 from Omaha, 565 from 
St. Paul, 1,178 from Washington, and 3,123 from vSan Francisco. It is a 
terminal point of the Union Pacific Railway, and enjoys unusual advan- 
tages in water transportation to all points on the Mississippi and its 
tributaries. 

There is no particular historic interest or flavor of tradition about 
Kansas City. It was first settled in 1836. In 1846 and subsequent 
years it enjoyed a large Indian and Santa Fe' trade. With the gold excite- 
ment of 1850 came added business and the promise of enduring prosperity. 
The oity had its "ups and downs" like many another frontier town 
during all these pioneer years, but fought on in the face of many 
discouragements until success and a place in the front rank were won. 
When one looks over the city, the wonder is why the early settlers 
pitched upon such a site for a town — hill and valley mingled together in 
grotesque confusion. There are broad avenues in the suburbs, lined 
with splendid residences, and parks and squares tastefully arranged for 
the comfort and pleasure of the people; but the business center is bunched 
in close, narrow streets in a valley and on the sides of steep hills. The 



12 KANSAS. 

energy of the people, however, has overcome the unkindness of nature ; 
and the result is a most wonderful system of cable cars, as perfect and 
thorough in all details, perhaps, as can be found in the United States. 
These lines make all sorts of impossible ascents and descents ; the cars 
rush up ridiculously steep hills and plunge down an alarming grade nearly 
as acute as the side of a house, around curves and across level stretches at 
a very fast rate of speed. The tourist can see Kansas City to the best 
advantage, and enjoy a thoroughly delightful ride in any direction by a 
trip on these miniature railways. The system is a triumph of engineering 
skill, and a model of safety in quick, comfortable transit. It has been 
asserted of late that the citizens have well-nigh discontinued the use of the 
family carriage, as being both cumbersome and expensive, and taken 
entirely to the republican simplicity of the cable car. 

The Union Pacific Railway has been a potent factor in the growth and 
development of Kansas City. As the connecting link between the Atlantic 
and Pacific, its many divisions have acted as feeders to all lines East and 
West. The Kansas division, with its main lines and branches aggregating 
over 1,200 miles, has been a great help to the city, and the principal agent 
in developing the rich agricultural, stock-raising and mining regions west- 
ward. Since 1871 Kansas City has been prominent as a feeding and ship- 
ping point for live stock, and at this time the receipts are over 81,000 cars 
per annum. In grain the receipts ran in 1887, wheat, 2,000,000 bushels ; 
corn, 4,000,000 ; oats, 2,500,000, etc. In 1887, the twentieth year of the 
packing business, the number of hogs packed was 2,000,000, cattle slaugh- 
tered, 200,000, and sheep, 75,000, the aggregate value being $55,000,000. The 
bank clearances run very close to 1400,000,000, and the real estate trans- 
fers, 1137,000,000. The completed water works system will cost from 
$4,000,000 to $5,000,000, the present daily capacity being 20,000,000 gallons. 
To the average reader statistics are wearisome, and in this brief outline 
none will be inflicted. It will be sufficient to say that Kansas City is a 
cosmopolitan city of 135,000 peojole; that within her borders are found 
great banks with millions of money, manufactories of gigantic proportions, 
the luxuries, the comforts, the equipped force and working machinery of a 
great metropolis. She reaches out for trade and traffic over a vast territory 
populated by 9,000,000 people, and in the natural increase and growth of 
this great domain, together with the resources within herself, lies her 
future — a future which by all signs and tokens, past and present, is assured 
beyond the peradventure of a doubt. 

BONNER SPRINGS 

Is seventeen miles from Kansas City, on the main line. This pretty little 
resort is destined in time to be a suburban residence town for Kansas City 
and other places within easy distance. The beautiful park, the mineral 
springs, the Forest Lake, the salubrious air, cool nights, and sightly loca- 
tion of Bonner Springs, will all doubtless in the near future bring to the 
place a number of wealthy citizens, who desire immunity in summer 
from the dirt and heat of over-crowded centers. It is a delightful spot for 



KANSAS. . 13 

locating one's family. There are good hotels and boarding honses, and 
generons inducements are offered those who wish to purchase lots and erect 
permanent residences. 

TOPEKA. 

At Topeka, the capital of the State, a stop is made for dinner. It is to 
be regretted that one sees so little of this pretty town from the station. 
It is almost completely hidden from sight, so closely is it embowered in 
leafy shade. But a walk through the town discloses its beauties. There 
are shade trees everywhere, thus lending a charming air of country green- 
ness and freshness to the heart of a city. Topeka shares the fate of most 
capital towns in being principally a residence city, and giving entire attention 
to politics. It is handsome, cool, inviting, and will well repay a visit. 

The new State Capitol, now nearing its completion, is an imposing struct- 
ure of native stone, standing within a very pretty miniature park. In an- 
other corner of the park is the handsome public library building, already 
well filled with library treasures. Topeka has a large number of manufact- 
uring and industrial establishments, although not dependent on water-power; 
it has also an excellent system of electric street railways. Its flour mills 
and elevators do a fine business. Many of its streets are already well paved, 
and the city is provided with water-works, gas-works, and electric lights.' 
The handsome State Fair Grounds, two miles to the southwest, are con- 
nected with the city by electric and horse railroads. It is a treat to visit the 
State Fair, held here in the early part of September, and one becomes con- 
vinced of the greatness of Kansas, its agricultural and other industries. 

Two miles above the city, on the high ground south of the river, is a 
cluster of tasteful stone buildings, overlooking the Kaw Valley,— one of the 
two State Insane Asylums. 

Up the Kaw we go, through the wooded, grassy valley. Rich soil there 
is here, and great crops of sturdy corn and wheat and small fruits reward 
the farmer. On through many a small village— always a possible metropolis 
— till we reach 

ST. MARY'S. 

St. Mary's is twenty-four miles west of Topeka, and is the largest town 
within that distance. It is situated at the junction of four rich counties,— 
Waubunsie on the south, Jackson and Shawnee on the east, and Pottawato- 
mie, the county in which it is itself situated, to the west and north. Sur- 
rounding it lies the finest bottom land of the renowned Kaw Valley, where 
an entire failure of crops is unknown. The Kansas River is the dividing 
line between Pottawatomie and Waubunsie counties, and a large iron bridge 
spans the river just at the door of the city, the only bridge west of Topeka 
for a distance of forty miles. This is an artery of trade which carries to 
St. Mary's every year untold thousands of bushels of wheat and corn, and 
droves of hogs and cattle. 

St. Mary's has now a population of about 3,500, and is rapidly growing 
and improving. Her business houses are of stone and brick, and her mer- 



14 KANSAS. 

chants are prosperous and have scarcely felt tho depression which has 
affected agricultural districts throughout tho Union for tho past two or 
three years. Two banks, each with fair capital, furnish the means of ex* 
change; the religious wants of the people are ministered to from five pulpits 
of as many denominations; and the education of her children is attended to 
through a graded public school, a parochial school, and as large an institu- 
tion of learning as there is west of the Mississippi, if not the largest. The 
day passenger on the Union Pacific Railway from Topeka is attracted by 
the beautifully decorated grounds, or at night by the glare of the electric 
lights, as he catches a glimpse through the clusters of elms and maples of a 
group of three or four massive buildings. This is a Jesuit institution, 
known as 

ST. MARY'S COLLEGE. 

There are over 350 lives nestled in that grove, and the tourist will go a 
long way before discovering a family so numerous and withal so contented. 
The pupils range in years from ten to twenty-five, and have come together 
from various points between New York, Colorado, and Texas. There are 
two grades in the College, the junior and senior, having separate play- 
grounds, dormitories, dining-rooms, and study-halls. The curriculum 
embraces two departments, the collegiate and commercial; the former ex- 
tending through seven, the latter through four years. Perhaps the feature 
of the college is its splendid library and elegant reading-room. There are 
three things above all others that careful observers have noted in the stu- 
dents of St. Mary's, — they are thoroughly moral boys, they are earnest 
workers, and physically they are strong and well developed. 

In 1887 prospecting for coal began in the vicinity. One mile west of St. 
Mary's, the drill, at a depth of 328 feet, struck a bed of fine soft coal 38 
inches thick; at a depth of 600 feet, a bed of cannel coal 4 feet thick was pene- 
trated; and still below these coal beds, at a depth of 1,000 feet, the drill reached 
a vast deposit of salt, 110 feet in thickness. A strong salt brine flows con- 
tinually from this hole, in artesian-well fashion, and the salt produced from 
it is equal in quality to the celebrated " Liverpool," so extensively imported 
by dairies and packing-houses; and here it is, near the track of the Union 
Pacific Railway, and with coal in abundance in the same shaft. In three 
different places near by, a soft coal of 3G inches in thickness has been found. 
This salt is at least 97 per cent pure. 

Past Wamego, the end of the first district, 104 miles from Kansas City, 
Manhattan is next reached, the "prayer-founded city," 118 miles from 
the starting point. Here the Big Blue River comes tumbling down from 
Nebraska and joins issue with the Kaw — for the old settlers persist in 
still giving the Indian name of the Kansas River. Manhattan is a city of 
churches, and a flourishing place of above 3,400 inhabitants. In the early 
days, when tliere were but 500 people here, there were five places of worship, 
and it is asserted that church-building has very nearly kept pace with the 
increased ratio of population. Tho town is situated in a beautiful wide 
valley, and located here is the Agricultural College of the State — one of 



KANSAS. 15 

tho very best conducted institutions extant. From Manhattan the tourist 
can take the Manhattan & Beatrice Branch of the Union Pacific, and, 
ascending the valley of the Big Blue, reach Omaha through the cities of 
Beatrice, Lincoln, Valparaiso, and Valley. 

" Shortly after we leave Ogden in our journey along the Kaw, we discover 
in the edge of a river grove, and close to the railroad track on the south 
side, the ruins of a building of white lime-stone, and a little farther on, in 
the green meadow on our north, is its companion, both without roof or 
other wood work, but otherwise seemingly indestructible. These are tho 
remnants of the first capital of the Territory of Kansas, Pawnee, in which 
the Territorial Legislature held a session July 3 and 3, 1855. 
We are now within the Military Reservation of 

FORT RILEY, 

Which comprises a large select body of land along the river. Perhaps as 
we fly past, we may witness the evolutions of a troop of cavalry on yonder 
undulating slope. A little farther on, we can discern on the plateau at our 
right, the extensive new buildings, with their red roofs, of the Fort or Post 
itself. Of all the lovely country around this favored region, none can com- 
pare in natural beauty with the place selected by the United States Govern- 
ment for the establishment of that great post, Fort Riley. It was as far back 
as July, 1852, when Colonel Fauntleroy, of the First Dragoons, recommended 
the location to the Quartermaster-General, and in the autumn of that year a 
detachment of troops arrived and organized a temporary camp called Camp 
Center, and on March 4, 1853, the post was formally located and named 
Fort Riley, in honor of General Benjamin Riley, a distinguished army officer. 
The name Camp Center was first given the place because it is claimed to 
be the geographical center of the United States. Barracks were erected 
from time to time, some very costly frame ones during the period of the war, 
and the post continued to grow in importance. It was not, however, until 
1884-5 that the Government became convinced of the great desirability of 
Riley as a large post. The plain facts appeared to General Sherman and 
General Sheridan to be these: The post was located on a reservation of 
over 20,000 acres; wood, water, and grass abundant; forage abnormally 
cheap in the district; railway facilities at the very gates of the fort (the 
Union Pacific running through the grounds), and the central position of the 
spot as a distributing point. An additional point was, that on the uplands, 
a short distance from the fort, the artillery had all the range necessary for 
field practice, and the cavalry all the room they needed. A board of military 
officers were especially appointed, selected the sites and planned the build- 
ings. These buildings accommodate twelve companies of cavalry, half as 
many of artillery, recruits in training for each and every arm of land 
service, and officers to match, making a military population of 3,000 men 
and about as many horses. 

The estimated cost of tho contemplated structures will bo from SI, 000,000 
to $1,500,000, in expenditures of from $300,000 to $400,000 annually. Tho 
first contract was awarded in October, 1885, and the amount spent in 



16 KANSAS. 

construction up to the close of 1890 was over $800,000, and nearly the same 
amount in 1889. Some idea of the extent of this work may be gained from 
the fact that the system of water-works will cost $45,000, hospital $30,000, 
and steam heating $70,000. The post-trader's store will cost $15,000. The 
material used is a very fine grained, white and cream-colored limestone, 
easily worked, but hardening on exposure. The stone has proven its 
durability after thirty years of satisfactory trial. The officers' quarters and 
the barracks are built double, while the residences of the post-commandant 
and the artillery-commandant officer are very handsome dwellings, fitted 
throughout luxuriously and conveniently. The plans of Captain George 
Pond, A. Q. M., constructing officer in charge, have been approved by the 
Quartermaster-General, and these plans assure the outlay of over $800,000. 
But twice that sum will be expended before the Government has improved 
and adorned the post to its satisfaction. When full completion is reached, 
"Old Fort Riley" will be unquestionably our finest military post. It will 
be a cavalry and artillery school, and with the officers and their families, 
the soldiers and servants, there will be a little city there of nearly 4,000 
souls. The forty buildings already erected are classed as follows : 

Nineteen officers' quarters— fifteen double, 82x53>^ feet each, and four single, 
44x57 feet; all two stories high. 

Two artillery buildings, 48x208 feet each; single story. 

Six double cavalry barracks, 51x241 feet; each estimated to accommodate twelve 
troops of cavalry, or about 800 men. 

Two administration buildings, one for each post of cavalry and artillery, the 
former being 57x127 feet and the latter 393^x91 feet. 

The mess building; main hall, 73x180 feet, with kitchen 57x113 feet, the largest 
structure of the kind in the United States and capable of seating 1,000 men at a 
single meal. 

Five cavalry stables, 63x143 feet. 

Two gun sheds, 33x226 feet. 

Guard house, 40x102 feet. • 

Hospital, 50x230 feet, with kitchen 30x63 feet. 

Dispensary building, 37x54 feet. 

Non-commissioned officers quarters, 35 feet square. 

Among the buildings that are yet to be constructed are these : 

Three artillery buildings. 

Seven cavalry stables. 

Three gun sheds. 

Commissary store, 320x60 feet, the largest in the United States. 

Cavalry drill hall, 100x300 feet, for use during stormy weather. 

Bath for cavalry and artillery. 

Quartermaster's stables, sheds and corral, 293x132 feet. 

These comprise the best lot of buildings for a military post that were 
ever built by the Government, and in two years' time all will be completed. 
Captain Pond has absolute control of the improvements and is under bond 
to the government for the faithful performance of the trust. 

The finest and most imposing of the buildings is the post administration 
building in which are located the offices of the commanding and field 
officers, and where the courts-martial are held. It contains beside the offices, 
a library and a lecture room. At the northwest corner is a three-story 
round tower in which will soon be placed an immense clock with illumin- 



KANSAS. 17 

ated dials that can be seen from any point of the post, and, in some direc- 
tions, for miles. The clock will cost $1,500, and it will be of great service 
in insuring uniformity throughout the post and particularly with the 
trumpeters in sounding calls. 

Many of the officers' quarters are furnished as well as the apartments 
of rich civilians. The double quarters are different from the singles only 
in that they are arranged to accommodate two families instead of one. To 
each family is alloted eight rooms, including the kitchen and laundry. 
They are heated with steam in winter, and are supplied with good water 
from a system of water-works that cannot be surpassed. A reservoir on 
the top of a hill at an elevation of 200 feet, has a capacity of half a million 
gallons of water. 

These improvements will make a desirable innovation in army post life 
and will prevent a great deal of shifting about which becomes a burden to 
officers and their families. It is the custom that when changes are made, 
the new officers select their quarters from among any that may be held by 
their subordinates in rank, thus compelling the subordinate to move his 
family to some other quarters, probably pushing out the family of still 
another subordinate. The advent of one officer often necessitates the 
changing of the quarters of a half dozen families. This inconvenient and 
distasteful practice will eventually be abolished. '' 

A street railway, using an electric or other fast motor, will soon con- 
nect Fort Riley with Junction City, making the two-miles-and-a-half trip 
in less than fifteen minutes. Several telephone wires are already in use. 
When completed, the regular expenses of the garrison and military school 
will be about $2,000,000 a year, besides which a large proportion of the 
supplies for other western posts have been, and will continue to be, pur- 
chased here. 

The Union Pacific will issue coupon tickets allowing the traveler to stop 
off at Riley on his route from Kansas City to Denver. Of the great natural 
beauty of this lovely place it is difficult to speak without being accused of 
"gush." The happiest combination of wood and field and river conspire 
to make it beautiful without the aid of art. Turn about. There is a broad, 
green valley, down which there stream two rivers, and these meet down 
yonder under the trees, and the Kansas is born. From this gentle eminence 
you see a low rim of hills a mile away which, nearly encircles the fort, and 
toward the town unimagined depths of forest glade, shady walks and 
drives, and all these within the lines of the post. General Forsyth, the 
commandant, is most courteous to visitors, and allows civilians to roam at 
will over the picturesque portions of this lordly demesne — anywhere, in 
fact, except into the gun sheds and other mysterious buildings sacred to 
army discipline. Fort Riley wdll be a spot to be noted in every tourist 
book ; the broad and harmonious scenery is of itself sufficient attraction, 
and there is the added interest of personally viewing one of the most 
charming homes of our boys in blue. 

Immediately after leaving the station we cross the Republican river 
over a substantial iron railroad bridge; a little above and within sight, a 
wagon and foot bridge spans the river. This river rises in Northeastern 



18 KANSAS. 

Colorado, flowa all through Southern Nebraska, until it turns southward 
into Kansas, on the 98th meridian, in Republic county. At its confluence 
with the Smoky Hill river, it is the larger of the two, and both now 
assume the new name Kaw, or Kansas. Just before us is 

JUNCTION CITY, 

Quite a town, lying about half a mile north from the depot. The Union 
Pacific is erecting large round-houses |pr its locomotives at this point, and 
will bring the end of the first division from Wamego here. The town has a 
large trade in wheat, corn, oats and hay ; has several flour mills, one on the 
Smoky Hill, whicliis here dammed and furnishes a loermanent water-power. 
The poi^ulation is about 4,000, classing the city among those of the 21st 
rank in size among all the Kansas towns (Topeka, 2 ; Lawrence, 8 ; Leaven- 
worth, 4) . It is the county seat of Geary, formerly Davis, county, which is 
watered by two rivers and seven creeks, and it is strongly claimed for Junc- 
tioh City that it is the center of more water power than any town in the 
West. The town is easy of access from all points, located as it is at the 
confluence of four great valleys — the Kansas, Smoky Hill, Republican, and, 
ten miles south, the Neosho. Timber is plentiful in the rich bottom lands, 
and magnesian limestone abounds on the bluffs. Immense crops of wheat 
are raised in tliis section, and grapes, apples and small fruits are always a 
sure crop. Its population is nearly 5,000; on nearly 9,000 acres 189,000 
bushels of wheat were raised ; more than a million and a half bushels of 
corn on 40,000 acres ; more than 200,000 bushels of oats from 8,000 acres. 
Flax is grown on 260 acres, broom-corn on 57, castor beans on 22. Its 
horses numbered over 5,000, its milch cows nearly 5,000, other cattle 13,500, 
sheep 1,000, swine 9,000. Its assessed valuation of taxable property for 
1888 was $2,230,000, and its indebtedness $110,000. 

It matters not what may be the particular calling or inclination of the 
immigrant, if he is honest, industrious, sober and persevering, he Avill find 
an inviting field in this part of Kansas, with abundance of room for develop- 
ment among live, energetic people, with social, educational, religious and 
commercial surroundings equal to the best in most of the older States. 

There are some pleasant bits of history concerning Junction City. In 
1542, Francisco de Coronado, the Spanish explorer, crossed the rivers near 
where the town now stands. In 1719, M. Dutisne, the French explorer, 
arrived at a Pawnee village, near the mouth of the Republican Fork. He 
mentions finding two villages of about 130 cabins and 250 warriors each, 
and that they seemed in prosperous circumstances, each band owning about 
300 horses. General John C. Fremont's exploring expedition crossed the 
Smoky Hill at this place. Bad weather and the necessity of making a raft 
detained them, when they resumed their journey along the Republican 
Fork. The General's narrative gives a handsome sketch of this region. 

REPUBLICAN VALLEY. 

Leaving the main line at Junction City, a pleasant trip may be taken 
up the Republican Valley to Clay Center, a flourishing city of 3,000 
people. This is another fruitful section of which there are so many in 



KANSAS. 19 

Kansas, but the sight-seer is doomed to some disappointment as he views 
the country from the car windows. The RepubUcan River is apt to be 
rather impetuous at times, and, rising above its banks, thoroughly Boaks 
the whole valley, so that one sees but fairly well-to-do crops and an average 
stand of small grain from the track. Out on the rolling prairies, beyond 
the bluffs of the river, are immense fields of wheat and corn, but this the 
traveler does not see unless he makes a special pilgrimage. This is a rich, 
mellow soil ; there is plenty of timber, and wheat, corn, rye, barley, oats, 
potatoes, sorghum, apples, pears, peaches, plums, raspberries, strawberries, 
timothy and clover grow luxuriantly upon the slightest invitation. 

CLAY CENTER, 

The county seat of Clay county, is located on a beautiful southern slope, 
which extends from the banks of the Republican River on the south, on a 
gradual incline to the high prairie on the north, about one and a half miles 
from the river. In addition to this Huntress Creek flows along the west- 
ern side of the city and empties into the river just south of the city, thus 
giving thorough surface drainage, and ample opportunity for a complete 
system of sewerage. There are the usual accessories of good hotels, street 
cars, electric lights and water-works. It is thirty-three miles from Junc- 
tion City to Clay Center, and seventy to Concordia, a beautifully laid out 
city of 4,132 people. 

CONCORDIA 

Is the county seat of Cloud county, and situated on the bank of the Repub- 
lican. The making of the town has been carried on with rare good judg- 
ment; the buildings are uniformly excellent, and the principal streets 
present quite a metropolitan appearance. Situated in a garden spot of agri- 
culture, the town naturally grew into importance as a supply point, and the 
advantage has been energetically supplemented by the go-ahead spirit of 
her citizens. 

BELLEVILLE, 

Seventy-nine miles from Junction City, is the present terminus of this 
branch of the Union Pacific, and contains 1,631 inhabitants. Republic 
county, in which it is situated, is one of the very best agricultural districts 
in Kansas— splendid black loam soil ; water, coal and salt basins, and a 
plentiful supply of building stone. The region contiguous produces great 
crops and fruits in profusion ; cattle and hogs are largely raised. A non- 
sectarian college has been erected during the past year at Belleville, costing 
over $100,000. It was built of Manhattan stone, 90x132 feet, and three 
stories in height. 

MILTONVALE 

Is 165 miles due west from Leavenworth, a w ell equipped narrow-guage 
road connecting the two places. Miltonvale was named in honor of the late 
Milton Tootle, of St. Joseph, and is situated in the northeast corner of Cloud 
county. It is but a few years since the first building was constructed 
within its limits; now its inhabitants number about 700 of that thrifty, 
energetic class that is the pride of the West. Almost every branch of busi- 



20 KANSAS. 

ncss is represented, but not over-done in any branch. The stores are solid 
and substantial. There never having been a boom here, there has never 
been a set-back; hence the order of the day from the time the town started 
till now has been progress. There are three banks, one lumber yard, one 
grain elevator, one creamery, two brick yards, and two large implement 
houses; and a number of large general stores, dry-goods stores, groceries, 
hardware, and the usual lines of industry carried on in cities of this size, 
are found here in full operation. The soil is strong, rich, lasting, and 
unsurpassed in productiveness, besides being easy of cultivation. These 
lands are located near the best of markets, and prices vary according to the 
location, ranging from $13 to $25 per acre. 

The line from Miltonvale east runs across a fertile prairie country varied 
by valleys and small streams. For some distance from Clay Center we are 
in the rich valley of the Republican; thence on to high table-lands where 
heavy crops of wheat and corn are raised; but from Clay Center to Holton, 
corn and cattle practically occupy the land. From Holton the country is 
more heavily wooded, and from Valley Falls up to Winchester we traverse 
a very picturesque valley. For a time we again encounter the high table- 
land, and then go down through wood and by stream to Leavenworth. This 
section very much resembles the line of country from Leavenworth to 
Lawrence. A large majority of the district from Miltonvale to Leaven- 
worth is suitable for cattle-raising, and this is largely engaged in, though 
the herds are not extensive. Once, near the Missouri Kiver, we come again 
into the famous fruit region. The predominating crop on the entire line Is 
corn, and large yields are annually secured. 

THE BIG BLUE VALLEY. 

Another delightful section is the line from Manhattan due north up the 
valley of the Big Blue, before mentioned. This valley from Manhattan to 
Marysville we have already noted. At a conference of capitalists held less 
than one year ago at New York City the conversation turned upon the 
comparative value for agriculture of different regions, when one gentleman 
present, a man well known in political and financial circles, remarked: "I 
have visited nearly every civilized nation on earth, and am especially 
familiar with the soil and products of the different States of our own 
country; and I feel warranted in saying, that aside from the valleys of the 
Nile, in Africa, and the Yang-Tse-Kiang, in Asia, I have never seen a rival 
to the valley of the Big Blue River in Kansas and Nebraska." This may 
appear an extravagant statement; yet, that the reader may form an idea of 
this wonderful Blue River Valley, the center of which is pierced by the 
fortieth parallel of north latitude, we will state- that this river, 300 miles 
in length, has its source in Central Nebraska, within a few miles of the 
Platte River; thence coursing southward through rich prairie lands which 
gradually merge into a wide bottom of prairie and timber lands of wonder- 
ful richness, it finally empties into the Kansas River at Manhattan. 



KANSAS. 21 

It is this valley that swells the wheat and corn crops of Kansas to 
their enormous proportions every year. The ingredients of the soil are 
everything that is required for producing the best quality and largest 
yields of the cereals. The climate is also propitious, being never so cold 
in winter as to destroy the roots of the grain, nor so warm in summer as 
to wither the kernels before they are hardened. The rains and snows 
are in the proper seasons to do the most good and never work an injury 
to the growing crops. 

The spring season opens early — much earlier than in the north and 
east, and wheat obtains its growth and matures before the season of dry 
weather sets in. The change comes then, and during the harvest time the 
weather is all that could be desired for securing in the best shape possible 
the immense crops which the rich soils of this valley have brought 
forth. 

The same meteorological conditions that conspire to make a large 
wheat crop are also favorable to the largest yields of corn. Moderately 
dry weather is adapted to the growth and earing of corn, so that 
during the favorable wheat harvest, corn is attaining its greatest perfec- 
tion. 

These great crops are not the only ones raised in the Big Blue valley. 
The enormity of the yield of these two cereals overshadows everything 
else, and outsiders are accustomed to think of Kansas as the State of corn 
and wheat. But this view is wrong. The soil and climate are as favor- 
able to all the other grains, and also to the cultivation of fruits and 
vegetables. 

Apples, peaches and pears are raised in abundance where the farmers 
have had the foresight to plant orchards, and they find that more is 
realized from them than from their grain. All the small fruits yield abun- 
dantly and flourish as if they were indigenous to the soil. 

The counties through which the Big Blue passes have very little waste 
land, and the statistics for 1891 make an array of figuses calculated to 
astonish those who are not faitiiliar with the fabulous yields of grain in 
Kansas. The results would show that those counties produced a greater 
yield, both of corn and wheat, than any similar number of counties in the 
United States situated together. 

They are also among the most thickly populated agricultural counties 
of the State. Thriving towns and villages are numerous throughout the 
entire valley. 

The people have everything that can be obtained in the way of schools 
and churches and all other refining and elevating influences. They have 
that characteristic w^estern hospitality, which makes the new-comer feel 
not only truly welcome, but as if he had fallen among friends. 

The four counties through which the Big Blue flows in Kansas before 
emptying into the Kaw at Manhattan are, Marshall, Pottawatomie, Riley 
and Washington. They are veritable gardens, and while supporting a 
large population already, there is still room for thousands more to make a 



22 . KANSAS. 

living and become wealthy from the varied products of its unsurpassed 
fertile soil. 

Following is the population of the above counties according to the 
census of 1890 : 

Marshall 23,912 

Pottawatomie 17,722 

Riley : 13,183 

Washington 22,894 

Total 77,692 

INCREASE SINCE 1880. 

Marshall 7,776 

Pottawatomie 1,372 

Riley 2,753 

Washington 7,984 

Total 19,885 

After this digression we return to Junction City and the main line. 
While the engines are being changed, we have time to look once more 
upon Fort Riley, which can be seen quite plainly from the train or 
depot grounds. 

Continuing westward along the Smoky Hill, and shortly after pass- 
ing the small station of Kansas Falls (at about the 148th mile post)> 
we enter 

DICKINSON COUNTY, 

one of the best developed and richest farming districts in the whole 
State. It has 21,191 inhabitants, by far the larger number of which 
are of Pennsylvania extraction. This in a large measure accounts for 
the profitable, as well as systematic and thorough farming practiced by 
these people. 

The rolling prairies and wide shallow bottoms of this county have 
an average elevation above sea level of 1,050 feet. The beneficial effect 
of this altitude upon the climate is very marked; even in the hottest 
days of high summer the heat is never oppressive ; it is very dry and 
invigorating instead of enervating. The average annual rainfall varies 
between twenty-four and thirty-two inches, which is fully sufficient to 
grow all the cereals and thousands of tons of hay, besides the grass used 
for pasturage. 

In 1889 the county raised nearly one million bushels of wheat from 
47,634 acres; 6,300,000 bushels of corn from 125,592 acres; 1,665,000 
bushels of oats from 47,571 acres. It had 13,883 horses, 12,653 milch 
cows, 31,575 other kine, and 35,295 swine. 



KANSAS. 23 

We cannot see much more than a comparatively narrow strip of bottom 
between the rising ground on both sides of tlie railroad but even the 
little we do see convinces us that the farmers in this county are prosper- 
ous. We thus skirt along the Smoky Hill River, which is often hidden by 
groves of timber, until at Di^tuoit we see a spur track leaving the main 
Uiie southwardly, and there, on the high south bank of the river, wo 

"^''^"^'^ ENTERPRISE, 

A thrifty little town which was founded here on the river because of its 
water-power, and it has been well utilized. In all there are twelve flour 
mills in the whole county, with an annual output of more than- ^1,000,000 

worth of flour. ^^ 

ABILENE, 

The county seat, was founded in 1866, when the Union Pacific Railway 
arrived at this point. It is now quite a handsome town, full of activity, 
with a good railroad eating-house and hotel, where the train that leaves 
Denver the evening before, stops for dinner. 

The town has 3,560 inhabitants, a public water system, gas and electric 
works, a graded school, carriage factory, mills, elevators, banks, stores, 
churches, newspapers, brick works, etc. 

From the time the Union Pacific Railway was opened, until about 1875, 
Abilene was the northern terminus of the "Texas Cattle Trail." Hun- 
dreds of thousands of "long-horns" were driven hero from the "Lone 
Star" State for shipment eastward. The surrounding country was yet a 
beautiful wilderness of native grasses and prairie flowers, presenting a mag- 
nificent grazing field for the largest herds; and the new town was the favor- 
ite haunt of cattle-traders, herdsmen, cow-boys, gamblers, saloon men and 
other invariable accompaniments of the typical Texas cattle town. Several 
"Wild Bills" and "Texas Bills," not altogether mythical, held high sway 
in those times, sometimes even in the role of city marshal, until the rail- 
road had reached Ellsworth, and the half-wild herds and their hardly less 
wild cow-boys departed for new fields. It was in those transition years 
that a so-called "public opinion" demanded that the railroad company 
withdraw its lands in the west half of the county from market and hold 
them as a reserve for grazing purposes; but the farmers occupied the lands 
and put them to a better use. This process repeated itself when the road 
reached Russell and Ellis counties. For a long time the 100th meridian was 
I by scientists and experienced cattlemen proclaimed to be the )- .'.sternmost 
limit of agriculture. Yet the farmers pushed ahead into the counties of 
Gove and Sheridan, and have now raised corn, forty bushels to the acre on 
sod, in Thomas, Sherman, Logan, Wallace, and Greeley counties, where it 
was positively asserted it could never grow. 

There is one more town in the very west end of Dickinson county,— 

SOLOMON, 

On the river of the same name, near its Junction with the Smoky Hill. 
It has good water-power for a large mill, the usual number of stores, a 



24 KANSAS. 

graded school, churches, two banks, and a round-house for the locomotives 
of the Solomon Branch of the Union Pacific, which branch here leaves the 
main line to follow the Solomon River northward. The town has 1,200 
inhabitants. 

MINNEAPOLIS, 

The county seat of Ottawa county, situated on the Solomou Branch, has 
1,812 inhabitants, the county having 15,453, This county is fully as rich, 
fertile and prosperous as Dickinson. We pass farther up to 

BELOIT, 

Inhabited by 2,360 persons, and the county seat of Mitchell county (14,346 
inhabitants), one of the rich and wondrously fertile counties in the north 
central portion of the State, on the upper Solomon. This river is born in 
the west end of the countj' out of the junction of its north and south 
forks. Of this river we shall learn more when considering the Salina, Lin- 
coln & Western branch of the L^nion Pacific. 

Eeturning to Solomon, we take the train on the main line. As soon as 
we have crossed the iron railroad bridge we enter 

SALINE COUNTY, 

One of the brightest pearls in the famous "Golden Belt," and just before us 
are the extensive Solar Salt Works of Solomon. The strong brine is 
pumped up from wells, and distributed into shallow evaporating vats, until 
it is sufficiently concentrated for final drying out of the pure salt, wind and 
sun being the willing agents to do the work. The annual output is worth 
§125,000, and could easily be increased if more capital was employed. This 
salt is 97.37 per cent i^ure. 

The country about here appears to be a plain, but it is really an extended 
bottom formed of the junction of four wide valleys — the Solomon, the Smoky 
Hill, the Saline and Mulberry Creek — an immense area of extreme fertility, 
extending southward along the course of Gypsum Creek, and southwest- 
ward along Dry Creek. The rim of these bottoms appears like a range of 
hills or a plateau on the distant horizon. No wonder that in this heart of 
Kansas such a magnificent county as Saline should have developed — a county 
of 20,000 inhabitants ; a county which yielded a wheat harvest of more than 
2,017,836 bushels from 87,777 acres ; 2,869,440 bushels of corn from 59,780 
acres; and 719,124 bushels of oats from 17,122 acres! There were, besides, 
273 acres in flax, 434 acres in broom-corn, and 450 acres in castor beans. 
The returns for 1889 show that there were 10,631 horses, 9,711 milch cows, 
22,987 other cattle, and 11,349 swine. Its total assessed valuation for 1888 
was $5,119,656. Already the produce of its orchards, with their 85,000 trees 
in bearing, and 108,000 not yet in bearing — apples, pears, peaches, plums, 
cherries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries and grapes — and of its 
market-gardens, is exceeding the home demand. 

Past the town of New Cambria, settled by Pennsylvania farmers, we 
cross the Saline Eiver, a little more than a mile above its junction with the 
Smoky Hill ; and soon the steeples and colleges of 



KANSAS. 26 

SALINA 

Spring into sight. Hero is a city scarcely thirty years old, with 0,550 inhab- 
itants, where cue may drive to a hotel recently erected at a cost of |;80,000, 
with electric lights, elevator, and all the style of an eastern city. And a 
bright, energetic town is Salina — street cars, Holly water-works, gas, and 
two electric light companies, and a lively manufacturing center. Here 
one sees the inevitable park or square in the heart of the city. And 
what a wise and beneficent forethought it is ! Go where you will in 
Kansas, into the smallest of the small towns, and somewhere within the 
boundaries you will find a shady grove of trees. There used to be a 
theory that the church was built first and the school-house next in all 
Western towns, but in Kansas it would seem that the first instinct of the 
town builders is to lay aside two or three blocks and plant trees. And 
this later generation have reason to bless the kindly thoughtful ness of those 
hardy pioneers; for these beautiful squares of leafy shade are one of 
the most attractive features the tourist meets with in his trip through 
the State. A village of 1,200 people in this section is a vastly different 
community iu this year of grace and peace, 1891, from one of thirty years 
ago, or from a New England hamlet of to-day, even. First, there is your 
cool and refreshing park; then there is sure to be a good hotel, admirable 
schools, water-works, and electric lights. And yet this was called the 
Great American Desert twenty-five years ago — but of that we will talk 
later on. 

Many of the richest resources of Salina have not been developed — 
the people have been too busy buying, and selling, and making a city. A 
very large and deep bed of the best potter's clay underlies a portion of the 
western part of the town. The clay along the river makes an enduring 
hard brick, equal to the Milwaukee brick, and of the same yellow color. 
The yellow stone that underlies all the eastern hills near Salina is a 
hydraulic cement of excellent quality, not yet worked, although it was 
hauled 140 miles by horse and ox wagons to Lawrence in 1858 and 1859, 
and there made into cement and sold in the stores. On the highest 
points east of the city there are great beds of gray granite, very hard and 
very brittle, suitable not only for fine macadamizing and for pulverizing 
into cement-sand, but also required in making steel rails and otherwise 
in smelting and purifying for the purposes of finer manufacture. Great 
gypsum beds exist in close proximity to the city, , 

Salina was founded in the wooded bend of the Smoky Hill River, and its 
wide, level streets, all its private grounds, lawns, gardens, and parks are 
planted with trees. It is a beautiful city, its many tasteful modern 
buildings, business houses as well as dwellings, being literally hidden in the 
green shade of an immense grove. It has water-works, gas, electric 
light, street railways, a number of good hotels, many substantial business 
blocks of brick and stone, fine churches, stores, six banks, graded schools, 
five colleges, and one daily and a number of weekly papers. Its various 
mills and other industrial establishments represent an annual output of 
§1.000,000. Some brands of Salina flour enjoy an enviable reputation in 



26 KANSAS. 

Boston and also in Liverpool. The farms of the whole county in 1888 
yielded an income of one and three-quarter million dollars. 

The Union Pacific has for many years operated a branch railroad from 
Salina due south along the valley of the Smoky Hill into 

McPHEESON COUNTY, 

A county almost as pretty, fertile, and well developed as its neighbor on 
the north, Saline. It has 21,358 inhabitants, and the two best cities in it, 
McPherson and Lindsborg, have respectively 3,063 and 1,500. There were 
raised by its industrious farming population more than 2,000,000 bushels 
of wheat on 85,000 acres ; nearly 6,000,000 bushels of corn on 122,375 acres ; 
1,792,000 bushels of oats from 47,176 acres ; and there are 42 acres of flax 
and 4,060 acres of broom-corn. This county and a few of its neighbors 
furnish the many thousand bales of material out of which our common 
house brooms are manufactured. In 1887 the whole State produced 21,000 
tons ; in 1888 not quite 14,000 tons ; in 1889 only about three-fourths as 
many acres were devoted to its culture, McPherson being at the head of 
the list, its neighbor on the west, Rice county, following with 3,160 acres, 
and the next county south, Reno, with 2,396 acres. 

After leaving Salina on the Union Pacific branch for McPherson Ave are 
carried through a model agricultural country, with handsome farm-houses, 
mills, elevators, schools, churches and stores. At Bridgeport we touch 
the Smoky Hill River once more. We now enter McPherson county ; only 
two miles from the line we stop at the pretty, active town of Lindsborg, 
the seat of the Lutheran Bethany College and Normal School, a large, 
handsome structure, with an average attendance of more than 200 pupils 
under an able faculty. In the center of the county and at the terminus of 
the Union Pacific branch, is the county seat, 

Mcpherson, 

A very pretty, active town, of 3,063 people, with buildings that would be 
ornaments to cities of much larger pretensions. It possesses tasteful public 
edifices, very pretty parks, water-works, gas and electric lights, street rail- 
ways, seven banks, graded schools, churches, stores, good hotels, newspapers, 
etc. In an addition on the east side is located the McPherson College and 
industrial School, a large stone building, having nearly 200 pupils and a 
full faculty. It was founded, and is principally maintained, by the 
"Bunkers," a Pennsylvania sect of Baptists who practice the simple piety 
of the primitive Apostolic times. 

On the return to Salina, a few miles south of Lindsborg, we meet the 
Smoky Hill river, which here has attained in its course the farthest point 
south. 

SALINA, LINCOLN & WESTERN ROAD. 

From Salina a new road, rather more than a mere branch, has been built 
within the last few years, running nearly parallel with the main line, and 
about twenty miles to the north of it. This new road has opened a splen- 
did agricultural country, which had not enjoyed the advantages of 



KANSAS. 27 

good communication, and in consequence lagged in tlie development of its 
rich treasures. Aa this road gives quick connection with trade centers, the 
fertile stretches of wild lands along the upper Solomon will quickly be peo- 
pled by an industrious farming and stock-raising population. 

After leaving Salina the road takes us along the Saline Eiver, crossing 
it at Culver, to Lincoln Center, the capital of Lincoln county. It is quite 
a substantial town, with 1,100 inhabitants, good hotel, stores, banks, mills, 
elevators, etc. Much of the county is broken and rough, the dark brown, 
hard sandstone of this region cropping out in numerous places. Many 
cattle and sheep ranches are located on these well-watered pastures. It is 
one of the few counties in which the sheep and wool crop has not decreased 
since 1888. 

The train takes us along the Saline River, until, a few miles west of 
Sylvan Grove, we enter the valley of one of its tributaries. Wolf Creek, 
beautiful with its changes of groves, open prairie and tilled fields. At 
Waldo we leave this valley, and ascend on easy grade the dividing ridge 
between it and the Paradise Creek Valley, which we first strike at Ivamar 
Station, and continue it up to Plainville, where the passenger trains stop 
for meals. This is quite a stirring young town, with 500 children in its 
graded school, two banks, two elevators, and a wind grist mill. 

We are now in a smooth, somewhat rolling, prairie country, which was 
attractive enough to induce some Swiss immigrants to settle here and found 
the town of Zurich. From here we ascend another divide, on an easy 
grade, to enter the valley of the South Fork of the Solomon River. We 
strike this water-course first near Bogue, a new promising town, with sev- 
eral stores, hotels, and a large school house, situated in a rich country not 
yet developed. 

A few miles to the northeast is the town of Nicodemus, the chief settle- 
ment of a large colony of colored people from Mississippi and West Ten- 
nessee, who came out here shortly after the war, very poor, but who have 
managed to improve their homesteads as well as their condition. 

We are now actually in the valley of the Solomon, crossing and re-cross- 
ing the small river many times, on our straight east and west track. At 
Hill City, 550 inhabitants, we see the county seat of this (Graham) county, 
about half a mile north of the station. All this county has plenty of room 
yet, and invites the settler to occupy its fertile, smooth prairies. 

In the next county, Sheridan, we take leave of the Solomon at Tasco 
Station, but continue up the bed of a tributary to the west line of the 
county, Menlo Station, where we enter the smooth prairies of Thomas 
county. .The county seat of Sheridan county, Hoxie, 325 people, is, in its 
aspect, not a fair representative of the county itself. Its well-watered 
prairies are still open to the home-seeker, and promise a rich reward to 
industry and perseverance. 

At Colby we arrive at the terminus of the Salina, Lincoln & Western 
road, a division of the Union Pacific System, but may run down to the main 
line, which we strike at Oakley. Although it is the county seat of Thomas . 
county, Colby is not yet five years old, but has substantial brick blocks, 
four banks, good hotels, stores, a very large school house, elevators, and, 



28 KANSAS. 

in short, looks more like an Eastern Kansas county town than one 
only forty-five miles from the Colorado line. The town has 800 inhabitants. 
The Union Pacific Company offered their lands in this and Logan, Sher- 
man, Wallace and Greeley counties, for the first time, to actual settlers 
only, in 1887,— in all about one milHon acres. Nearly one-half of the 
amount was disposed of at the close of 1888, thus proving the wisdom of 
the policy of selling to actual settlers only. 

The county raised in 1888 agricultural produce valued at $228,500, with 
a population of only 6,174. The crops of 1889 were 166,000 bushels of wheat 
from 11,000 acres, 840,000 bushels of corn from 42,000 acres, 138,000 bushels 
of oats from 5,000 acres ; 396 acres are in flax and 643 acres in broom corn. 
The Government Free Homestead lands have all been taken up. 

GOODLAND, 

The new county seat of Sherman county, is close to the Colorado line, 
and the second county south from Nebraska. Ten years ago nobody would 
have been so audacious as to predict that this would become a flourishing 
farming region with as fine a young county seat as can be found anywhere 
three hundred miles farther toward the Missouri. But here it is, an ac- 
complished fact. The county was organized in 1886; in 1888 it had 5,115 
inhabitants; in March, 1889, 5,902. Its crops were splendid. In Septem- 
ber, 1889, they held their first county fair, and were themselves astonished 
at the wealth of grain, corn, sorghum, millet, broom-corn and grass they 
possessed. One farmer exhibited heads of cabbage so solid as to suggest 
the question whether he had plugged and filled them with lead. They 
took part of the exhibit down to the State Fair at Topeka, and there elicited 
the profoundest astonishment at what the wild and desolate "Far West" 
could do. 

One of the hidden causes of such fertility may lie in this fact. - The bed 
of the Republican Eiver, near Colorado and Nebraska, is very wide, flat, 
shallow and sandy. A great portion of its water no doubt sinks into the 
sand, and fills a stratum of gravel which underlies all this part of Kansas, 
and is struck at an average depth of thirty feet. Hence every farmer may 
set up his wind-mill pump and make the prairie wind work it for irrigation. 
This "sheet water" extends all through this and Wallace county on the 
south, though for the last few years, since its settlement, it has enjoyed 
sufficient rainfall during the growing season for all its crops. The people 
are proud of their county and do not tire of recounting the successes of 
their farmers. One crippled veteran has raised on his homestead claim— 
the work all done by hired help— one thousand dollars worth of broom- 
corn, and the hard cash was paid to him in the fall of 1889. 

Goodland has a very good hotel, magnificent court-house, public school, 
stores, banks, and a live, active population. 

RESUME. 

The line from Salina to Denver, by way of Colby, just described, has sev- 
eral important advantages. In the first place, it is not only actually shorter 
but its most pronounced claim is in its easy grade, averaging about ten feet 



KANSAS. 29 

to the mile, with but two greater rises, where the divides already mentioned 
are crossed. There are no sueli steep "grades anywhere as to require 
"double headers" (two locomotives) on any train, neither freight nor pas- 
senger. 

Why, then, w^as not this route chosen in the first place? 

It must be remembered that the construction of the Pacific Railroads — 
the Union Pacific, Central Pacific and Southern Pacific — was commenced as 
a war measure, to bind the Pacific Coast States to the Union. Very little 
was known of the vast country lying between the Missouri and the Pacific 
Ocean, the old Pike's Peak trail followed by the adventurous prospectors 
for gold and silver being the only route that had been somewhat explored. 
The savage Indians were everywhere, and in no friendly mood. So it came 
that the then possible nearest western course toward Denver was selected 
as the route for the main line. 

The main line from Salina westward to Denver continues through the 
rich bottoms toward a rim of hills on the distant horizon. We pass several 
artificial (i. e., planted) groves — "tree claims"— the United States having 
given free to the settler 160 acres of this rich soil, the only condition being 
that there be 6,750 good and thrifty trees planted and growing on ten acres 
of the donated land. This is a very beneficial law, and has already entirely 
changed the face of many localities from former bleak i^rairie to a pleas- 
ingly diversified landscape. 

At Brookville we stop to change engines ; soon we enter a hilly, broken 
district, the brown sandstone bluffs piled up in fantastic castles and walls 
and turrets. We are in 

ELLSWORTH COUNTY, 

Whose population is 9,667 ; that of the city of Ellsworth, 2,100; Wilson, 
772 ; Kanapolis, 320. Wheat raised was 1,573,400 bushels from 56,274 acres ; 
corn, 1,518,110 bushels from 41,030 acres; oats, 49,000 bushels from 4,900 
acres; 5,400 horses, 4,696 milch cows, 15,268 other kine, 10,400 sheep, 4,240 
swine. 

Its eastern portion is mostly hilly, and ia well watered by numerous 
springs and creeks ; its grassy slopes are peculiarly fitted for pastures. It 
was a ranch country before the county was organized, and since about 1880 
Massachusetts capitalists, in search of a country in which diseasv^'l lungs 
would regain health and strength, have established quite a number of sheep 
ranches. Here they enjoy the pure, invigorating air of a sunny climate in 
a high altitude (about 1,500 feet above sea level), and as frew from the sul- 
try heat of summer as from the piercing cold of long winters. Their sheep 
ranches are models ; their houses, mansions with every city comfort. The 
farming lands are interspersed along the valleys and bottoms, and the 
entire southwest portion on the Plum Creek Flats cannot be excelled for 
agricultural possibilities. 

At Carneiro we cross a creek with a belt of native timber, and on the 
slope south of the railroad we can see from the car window a cluster 
of mushroom-rocks, curious formations left standing after ages of 
weathering processes had crumbled the softer limestone below a harder 



52 KA N S A S . 

Daring the ten years from 1877 to 1887 Kansas made a growth without 
a parallel in history. In population it has grown from a half million to a 
million and a half ; in acres of lands farmed, from five million to sixteen 
million; in railroads, from two thousand to eight thousand miles, from 
1877 to 1888 ; in taxable property, from one hundred million to three 
hundred million dollars. The increase in stock and field crops has been 
three-fold. It has been ten years of unsurpassed growth in agricultural 
development. 

WILSON, 

With a population of 772 people, is in the very west end of the county and 
is remarkable in the history of the development of this western region for 
the Experimental Nursery planted here by the Railroad Company early 
after the completion of the road. The object was to demonstrate that trees 
could be grown on the high prairies, and to ascertain which varieties were 
best suited to this purpose. All along the railroad the stations and section 
houses are provided with small parks, the trees being furnished by the 
Wilson Nursery. There is no longer any need for it; the State of Kansas 
is doing the same work on a much larger scale now. 

About three miles south of to-mi, on the Smoky Hill, is a coal bank, fur- 
nishing a hght lignite coal, costing about three dollars a ton at the mine. 
There are other mines in difierent portions of the county, which yield a 
similar fuel ; yet the farmer who has an abundance of corn in his bins, 
finds it cheaper to use corn in the ear to heat his rooms and cook his meals, 
than to hitch up, drive several miles to the nearest coal mine, and pay 
three dollars a ton, when corn is about the same price, and to get it he goes 
only across the yard to the crib. 

Immediately after we leave Wilson, whose depot is built of the dark 
brown sandstone brought from Fort Harker, we enter 

EUSSELL COUNTY, 

Which has a population of 7,337 ; 34,135 acres in wheat yielded more than 
800,000 bushels (one field of 60 acres near Bunker Hill yielded 1,920 bush- 
els) ; 34,779 acres of corn yielded more than 1,000,000 bushels; 4,339 acres 
of oats harvested 165,000 bushels; horses number 5,153, milch cows 6,181, 
other cattle 16,770, sheep 7,720, swine 3,367. This is another county 
wherein the sheep ranches flourished for man^' years until the prices 
obtained for wool seriously depressed the profits. Still large ranches of 
improved cattle, sheep and horses are yet existing, principally along the 
SaUne Eiver in the northern, and the Smoky Hill in the southern, part of 
the county. The assessed valuation of all taxable property for the year 
1888 was a little over two milhon dollars. Streams are not continuously 
fringed with timber, a few groves appearing at intervals. There were in 
1888 about 900 acres planted ^ith timber, trees one year old and over, the 
number of fruit trees in bearing was 12,740; of those planted but not yet 
bearing, 44,700. 

Only the Union Pacific and its Salina — Lincoln — branch (in the north 
townships) are in the county. Stations on the main hne : Dorrance, 200 



KANSAS. 33 

population, with water tank, Bunker Hill, Russell and Gorham. Bunker 
Hill, 250 poi)ulation, has water works, large mill and elevator, and graded 
school. Russell, the county seat, with 1,093 population, has a steam mill, 
elevator, good stores, two banks, two weeklies, a graded school, and good 
churches. It enjoys an active and profitable trade with all portions of the 
county. 

The herd law is in force in this county, under which every owner is 
obliged to keep his stock from trespassing upon the lands of others ; yet we 
must notice, as we pass through its fields and pastures, that a great num- 
ber are fenced, the posts being of stone split from the hard layers of lime- 
stone found in almost every neighborhood, and barbed wire strung between 
them. 

The railroad is following all through this county a comparatively narrow 
backbone ridge of high prairie. North as well as south deep ravines and 
heads of streams approach within half a mile of the track. This feature 
of the country explains the course and curves of the track from Bunker 
Hill to Russell and Gorham. 

CREAMERIES. 

From Brookville, 500 people, westward we have passed a number of 
creameries ; they are all new, near a railroad station, and built on the same 
general plan. The farmers drive up to the platform, lift the large cans with 
the milk, gathered sometimes from a whole neighborhood, out of their light 
wagons, have it weighed and gauged, and receive their credit ticket for as 
many pounds as delivered. The milk is subjected to a quick centrifugal 
agitation in a "separator," which in a short time separates cream from 
milk. The cream is churned, the butter properly w'orked, salted and put 
into tubs for the market. The farmer may re-purchase the skimmed milk 
at a low price, to use for their growing young stock. At stated periods 
they receive cash for the milk furnished. Quite a number of these cream- 
eries are conducted on the co-operative plan, the farmers themselves being 
the stockholders, and emjiloying the necessary skilled help. They have 
proved quite a benefit to the small farmers ; generally their store bills are 
paid by this income from a product which formerly was used up at home 
and ahnost valueless. 

A mile west of Gorham we enter 

ELLIS COUNTY, 

With a population of 7,933, principally farmers and stock-raisers. It had 
this last year 46,350 acres in wheat, yielding about one and a quarter 
million bushels, averaging 26 bushels to the acre; its corn crop was 
estimated at 475,000 bushels from 14,400 acres ; and its oats, 165,118 bushels 
from 4,300 acres. There were 4,275 horses, 3,283 milch cows, 12,490 
other cattle, 1,257 sheep (against 9,000 the year before, and 18,000 in 1888). 
The wool clip of 1887 yielded 39,381 pounds at a value of $7,088 ; that of 
1888 was only 8,943 pounds, valued at $1,609. The number of fruit trees in 



r. I KANSAS. 

bearing in 1888 was 4,691, of those not yot bearing 27,403. There were 
also 31 acres in raspberries, 10 acres in blacliberries, 9 acres in strawberries. 

In September, 1889, the county displayed at the State Fair in Topeka a 
splendid exhibit of its grains, grasses, vegetables, and fruits; it competed 
with such old, well-developed counties as Wyandotte (Kansas City), 
Shawnee (Topeka), Douglas (Lawrence), Jewell, on the Nebraska line, and 
two counties east of Ellis; yet it was successfully recognized. Wyandotte 
obtained first, Shawnee second, Ellis third, and Jewell fourth prize; and in 
largest variety and excellence of its fruit Ellis county competed success- 
fully with all the older and more eastern counties. 

There arc farmers in this county, who in the last harvest threshed from 
3,000 to 10,000 bushels of wheat. If a man should have bought of the rail- 
road company one quarter section of its good wheat-land at its average price 
of seven dollars an acre, and had put half of it (eighty acres) into wheat, 
this single wheat harvest would have furnished all the cash to pay for the 
whole quarter, 

KANSAS AND SEVEN OTHER STATES. 

(From the Fourth Agricultural Report of Kansas, extending to the year 1883. ) 

"Massachusetts thinks a good deal of itself, almost as much as New 
York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri do of themselves. 
And each of these States has a right, because of its agricultural achieve- 
ments, to a very good opinion of its capability. Together they form the 
best agricultural belt of the continent, both as respects climate and fertility 
of soil. Since 1863 the Department of Agriculture has presented the aver- 
age yield per acre of each, the last report being that for 1881. In order 
that persons familiar with these States may be able to judge of Kansas, 
which they do not know, by comparing It with the crops of a State 
which they do know, we present the following table of. the average yield per 
acre in each State, of the two staple crops, corn and wheat, during con- 
secutive years. 

"If the choice States of the Union are reliable agricultural States, Kan- 
sas, resting on the facts here pi-esented, is at least equally safe. If they have 
aright to entertain a good opinion of themselves, agriculturally, so has Kan- 
sas; and if it chose, it might glorify itself." 



KANSAS. 
WHEAT.— AVERAGE PER ACRE IN BUSHELS IN 



35 





Mass. 


N.Y. 


Pa. 


Ohio. 


Ind. 


Ills. 


Mo. 


Av. in 

these 7. 


Kan. 


1862 

1803 


17. 
14. 

i7!6 
14.9 

15^5 

18. 

17.6 

18.2 

17.4 

19. 

14.5 

10. 

18. 

22. 

22. 

18. 

17. 

15.8 


13. 

14. 

15'.3 
15.2 

14:6 
16. 
13.8 
17.2 
12.5 
13.5 
15.6 
8. 
15. 
18. 
19. 
15. 
16. 
13.9 


18. 
14. 

i2'.2 
11. 

12'.8 

14.8 

12. 

16.2 

10.8 

14.2 

14.8 

13.8 

13.2 

13.5 

15. 

15.3 

15. 

13.5 


16. 
13. 
10.2 
9.5 
4.5 
11.6 
13. 
15.5 
13.8 
13.9 
11.7 
12. 
14.5 
9.2 
10.18 
15.0 
16.5 
17.8 
17.2 
13.3 


16. 
14. 

's.h 

5.9 

ii!2 

12.4 

11. 

12. 
12.4 
11.2 
12.2 
9. 
11. 
14.5 
10. 
20.3 
16.8 
10.8 


14. 

12. 

14.8 

11. 

13. 

11.4 

11,5 

11.2 

13. 

12.3 

12.1 

13.5 

11.5 

10.5 

9.3 
10.5 
13.0 
18.7 
16.7 

8.2 


17. 

10. 

14.2 

12.7 

10.5 

12.4 

14. 

14.1 

13. 

13.4 

8.8 
12.8 
13.5 

9. 

12.4 
14. 
11. 
14. 
13.4 

8.6 


16.6 

13.9 

12.9 

12.4 

11.6 

11.8 

13.2 

14.9 

13.3 

14.8 

12.2 

13.7 

13.8 

10.8 

12.7 

16.2 

16.1 

17. 

16. 

11.8 


21. 
16. 


1804 


15. 


1865 


15. 


1800 


21.40 


1807 

1808 


14. 
15.6 


1869 


18.5 


1870 


15. 


1871 


15.9 


1872 


11.6 


1873 


14. 


1874 


13.8 


1875 


17. 7t 


1876 


14.3 


1877 


13.5 


1878 


18.7 


1879 


10.6 


1880 

1881 

1882 

1883 

1884 


10.4 
9.4 
22.3 
19.25 
21.47 


1885 


9.40 


1886 

1887 


13.60 
11.40 


1888 

1889 


17.11 
22.09 







CORN.— AVERAGE PER ACRE IN BUSHELS IN 





Mass. 


Is. Y. 


Pa. 


Ohio. 


Ind. 


Ills. 


Mo 


Av. in 
these 7. 


Kan. 


1862 


37. 
33. 

33.3 
3-1. 

37'.' 

34.2 

33. 

34.3 

34. 

35. 

32. 

37. 

35. 

34.7 

36. 

30. 

33.5 

25.1 


35. 
33. 

24.' 

27. 

32" 

27.1 

34. 

3^i. 

37. 

31. 

30. 

34. 

30. 

.32. 

86. 

33. 

34.8 

26.4 


36. 
33. 

46'.' 
34.4 

35V 
31.4 
35.8 
a3.5 
39. 
35.1 
33.2 
40. 
35. 
33. 
35. 
■ 35. 
40.6 
25.2 


33. 

24. 

31.5 

41.5 

38. 

28.7 

34. 

30.1 

39. 

38.5 

39.5 

35. 

39.7 

34. 

36.8 

32.5 

37.7 

34. 

38.9 

25.4 


42. 
34. 

40 '.4 
36.5 

34!" 

23.2 

39.5 

35.7 

38.7 

25.6 

27. 

34. 

30. 

30. 

32.8 

33. 

39. 

21.8 


40. 

23. 

3;3. 

35.2 

31.6 

23.8 

34.2 

23.2 

35.2 

38.3 

39.8 

21. 

18. 

34.3 

25. 

29. 

27.1 

35. 

27.2 

19.4 


38. 

29. 

26. e 

39. 

30.J 

27. S 

30.^ 

30. ( 

31.. 

38. 

37. 

23. J 

16. 

36. ( 

27. i 

29. 

26.' 

37. 

28.^ 

16.. 


37. 

28. 

30.4 

36.1 

33.1 

> 29.6 
i 33.8 

28.5 

1 35.4 
36.2 
37.9 

> 29.5 
27.9 

; 35.7 

i 31.3 

31. 3 

2 32.5 
34.7 

1 33.2 

> 22.8 


40. 


1863 

1864 


44. 
25. 


1865 


41.2 


1866 


34.2 


1807 


38.6 


1868 

1869 


18. 
48.4 


1870 


28. 


1871 

1872 


40. 
38.5 


1873 

1874 


39.1 
10.3* 


1875 

1876 


48. 8t 
43.7 


1877 

1878 


40.38 
37.13 


1879 

18S0 


36.3 

28.5 


1881 

1882 


19.38 
35.34 


1883 

1884 


39.13 
42. 


1885 


33.67 


1886 

1887 

1888 

1889 


24.05 
18.9 
32.74 
40.54 







♦Grasshoppers in summer. 

tGrasshoppers in two east tiers of counties in spring 



3fi 



KANSAS. 



RANK OF KANSAS AMONG THE SEVENTEEN BEST 
AGRICULTURAL STATES. 



WHEAT, 1883. 


CORN, 1883. 


STATE. 


BUSHELS 
PER ACRE. 


WHOLE 

STATE. 


STATE . 


BUSHELS 
PER ACRE. 


WHOLE 

STATE. 


KANSAS 


19.1-4 

16/2 

16 

151/2 

14 

13J 

13 

13 

13M 

11}-^ 

10; 

101^ 

lOA 

10 

10 

7/n 


30,025,000 
13,133,000 
16,138,000 
27,481,000 
35,000,000 
30,000,000 
30,320,000 
33,773,000 
19,600,000 
37,518,000 
38,447,000 
8,03.5,000 
23,819,000 
35,884,000 
33,150,000 
4,.300,000 
9,613,000 


KANSAS 


39.1-10 

36 
37 J^ 

37 

87 

26A 

25 

3414 

24J.<5 

34 

231/2 

231/2 

23 

21 

30J 

18J 

171/2 


182,000,000 


Oregon 


Nebraska 

Missouri . . 


101,378,000 


Dakota 


161,655,000 
95,620,000 


Michigan 

Pennsylvania 


Pennsylvania 

Ohio.. 


37,857,000 

73,560,000 

303,785,000 


Minnesota 


California 

Iowa 


3,464,000 

169,629,000 

78,300,000 

21,413,000 


Iowa 

Indiana 


Kentucky 

Michigan 

Oregon 

New York 

Wisconsin. , 

Minnesota 

Dakota 


New York 


139,000 
17,513,000 


Ohio 


33,579,000 


Illinois 


15,134,000 




4,915,000 


Kentucky 


Texas 


64,146,000 







(From Report of Bureau of Agriculture, Washington.) 

In Russell county we were at an elevation of 1,850 feet above sea level, 
and have risen but little when- we reach the county line between Russell and 
Ellis counties at Gorham. Here we seem to descend to the beautiful flats 
of Walker Creek, Victoria Creek, and Big Creek — all tributaries of the 
Smoky Hill, which runs through the south townships of Ellis county. We 
pass Walker, a nicely growing station with mill and elevator, stores and 
school, in the midst of a rich agricultural country; and at Victoria we are at 
an elevation of 1,946 feet. That large village to the north of the road, 
clustering around its conspicuous red-roofed church and other ecclesiastical 
buildings, is 

HERTZOG, 

Settled about August, 1876, by Russians of German descent. When Russia 
in the last century under enlightened and liberal rulers operjed its wide, 
wild steppes on the Volga and other streams in South Russia to civilized 
immigration, Southern Germany as well as Eastern Prussia, along the 
Baltic, sent their sturdy overflow into this new territory, and they built 
hamlets and villages such as they had been used to live in. They enjoyed 
some privileges, full religious liberty, and conducted their own schools. 
Times changed, however; they were oppressed In various ways by the 
Russian government, and became restless. Their eyes were set toward 
this new West. So they emigrated, many thousands of them, to Kansas. 
The Mennonites, a branch of Baptists practicing primitive Christian piety 
and simplicity, like the Quakers and Bunkers, found a congenial new home 
in Marion and McPherson counties. The Lutherans settled in the south 
portion of Russell county along the Smoky Hill, and the Catholics came to 



KANSAS. 37 

Ellis and Rush counties, where they founded strong and prosperous settle- 
ments. Hertzog is the largest of theni. It has now 1,200 inhabitants, a 
large parochial and a public school, stores, etc. 

Several years before these Russo-Germans arrived, an English colony 
had been founded here, at 

VICTORIA. 

They were young men with means, who set to building a fine depot, 
good houses, a cozy Episcopal chapel ; and they found enjoyment in the 
pretty county seat, Hays City, where a garrison of several companies of 
Regulars gave tone and interest to society. 

As we cross the bridge over Victoria Creek, with its fringe of timber, 
we may see on the south side, close to bridge and creek, a small plot 
enclosed by a rude paling fence, with the mounds of thirteen graves. 
When the road was being built these thirteen laborers were slain in one 
night by the Indians. It was under constant fear of attack and surprise, 
and with painful watchfulness, that this national work of building the rail- 
road to the Pacific had to be pushed. 

Just ahead on the north side we see a large ranch, with good buildings 
and good fences, owned by a wealthy gentleman in New York City ; he 
takes delight in breeding the pure-blooded Black Polled Angus cattle, 
which we may happen to see leisurely grazing and displaying their 
immense fat forms. 

Ellis county has a number of the best ranches in the State. Blooded 
horses, blooded cattle, fine-wooled sheep, and high-bred swine, all succeed 
wonderfully on these perennial pastures of the nutritive native grasses, 
principally the short deep-rooted buffalo grass, supplemented by generous 
allowances of alfalfa, corn and sugar cane (sorghum) . Good water is 
plentiful. One gentleman came from the Cape Colony of South Africa, 
and is well pleased with the change from an African to an American ranch. 

HAYS CITY. 
(2,109 feet elevation), the county seat, with 1,350 population, is beautifully 
located on Big Creek. It has steadily and substantially grown, and bids 
fair to be the handsomest town between Ellsworth and Denver. It has 
elegant blocks built out of the native magnesian limestone, a rich yellow 
in color, and others of pressed brick made here out of an excellent bed of 
clay. There are large steam mills, elevators, banks, a handsome court- 
house, a large graded school, good stores, lumber and coal yards, two good, 
new hotels, several weekly papers, and a flourishing creamery, whose 
product is in active demand as far as Denver. 

After the railroad was located, there was a military post — Fort Hays — 
situated here, on the south side of Big Creek, almost hidden by the timber. 
In the autumn of 1889, however, it was abandoned, and the garrison, being 
no longer needed here, was removed into the Indian Territory. The 
reservation will no doubt be sold, and form a handsome addition to the 
city. 

Resuming our journey, we pass between Big Creek on the right, and 
rather steep hills on the left, until we stop at 



38 KANSAS. 

ELLIS 

(2,155 feet elevation), which is the end of a division. Here are located the 
principal repair shoj^s of the Union Pacific between Armstrong and Denver, 
there being a very large round-house, store-house, etc. ; also a good rail- 
road hotel, where the trains from Denver and Kansas City stop for meals. 
The population of 1,350 is largely dependent upon the railroad, although a 
good trade with the country to the west and north is carried on. A project 
is on foot to establish here a 

SORGHUM SUGAR FACTORY. 

This industry is comparatively new to the State ; but enough has been 
demonstrated to show that the cane grown here is well adapted to the pro- 
duction of sugar and molasses. What remains to be settled is the proper 
method of working the raw product; as soon as a sufficient number of 
experts and skilled laborers have been trained, there will be raised in the 
"Sunflower" State all the sugar and molasses for its own consumption, 
and some to spare to its neighbors. Capital is ready for investment, farmers 
are ready to supply the cane ; the only lack now is skilled labor and man- 
agement. Even without sugar factories, sorghum cane has for years been 
a most important crop. It supplies a forage highly nutritive and greedily 
relished by all stock, and, what speaks most in its favor, it is not affected 
by the 

HOT WINDS. 

Every summer, more or less often, there are hot, dry winds blowing from 
the southwest, often with considerable force. When they occur just as the 
corn is in bloom (silk and tassel) they destroy, by drying up, the tender 
organs of fructification, and no corn will mature, there being only stalks and 
blades for fodder. The experiments carried on all over the State now are 
to develop varieties of corn which will be past this critical period of bloom 
at the time the hot winds may be expected. All the small grain is then in 
shock, millet and sorghum are not affected, and the rains of latter August 
and September revive the grasses. The origin of these injurious winds is 
still in dispute ; some hold that they are bred in Arizona and New Mexico ; 
others contend that they are a home product. At all events, the unbroken, 
dry, smooth prairie upon which the sun pours down its rays through a 
cloudless atmosphere, is their brood-bed. Many a time before we reach 
Denver we may notice, hovering close upon the southwestern horizon, a 
strip of grayish, floating, mist-like matter, resembling the motions of the 
short waves of a distant lake. This is the mirage; it is the effect of the hot 
sun upon the dry, smooth prairie. 

At the west end of Ellis, Big Creek is dammed for the ice crop which 
the railroad company needs and stores on the bank. We next enter 

TREGO COUNTY, 

Leaving Big Creek far to the South. This county has a smooth, rolling 
surface, broken and rough sections occurring only in its northern portion, 



KANSAS. 39 

along the Saline River. Round Mound, about two miles south of the rail- 
road and two miles west of the east line of Trego, is a conspicuous land- 
mark, and is visible from the car windows. There are no timber belts or 
fringes along the water-courses ; the groves we espy are all planted. Its 
900 square miles had a population in 1889 of 2,884 persons, of whom nearly 
one thousand live in the towns, although, with but few exceptions, they 
also follow farming. It had 4,708 acres in wheat, yielding about 57,200 
bushels; its corn crop was estimated at 271,100 bushels on 9,083 acres; its 
oats at 46,390 bushels from 2,017 acres; there were thirteen acres in flax 
and 117 in broom-corn. Its horses numbered 2,172, its milch cows 1,828, 
all other cattle 7,037, sheep 5,937, swine 607. The total assessed valuation 
for 1888 was $1,356,438. Sheep have proved a success here ; it is one of the 
few counties showing an increase of flocks over former years. 

About a mile west of Ogalia, the first station we pass through, the State 
of Kansas has established under a special commissioner a 

STATE FORESTRY STATION. 

One of the two in the State, where forest trees, mostly deciduous, or such 
as have been proved to be adapted to growth in groves on the high prairies, 
are being raised by the ten thousands and under certain conditions given 
to applicants for planting groves about their homes. 

When the railroad construction had advanced to about this point, in 
1867, somewhere hereabouts the contractors built a stockade to fortify 
their camp. It was absolutely necessary that the gang of laborers should 
be armed, and the Government furnished them with rifles and ammunition. 
Water for men and teams had to be hauled from Big Creek, some four 
miles to the south, and must always be done under guard. Wood for fuel 
had to be obtained on the Saline, about ten miles to the north, and on 
such occasions the whole force, men and teams, would start out, camp for 
the night on the Saline, cut and load the wood, and return. The Indians 
were very troublesome, and never to be trusted. One of the contractors 
was killed by them when he had ventured out alone. The oxen used at 
work, after being out quietly grazing, would return to camp with arrows 
sticking in their sides. 

WA-KEENEY, 

(Elevation, 2,391 feet), nearly 322 miles from Kansas City, is the county 
seat, 403 population, and the location of a U. S. Land Office for this dis- 
trict. It has tw'O banks. There are no Government lands left fit for the 
use of a farmer or stock owner. The railroad lands were many years ago 
sold in bulk to different parties; but the development of the county does 
not appear to have been quickened much by this sale. 

A few miles northwest of Wa-Keeney there is a large deposit of superior 
chalk ; it is being worked principally for whiting. There were in 1888 
13,385 fruit trees in bearing, and 18,761 more not yet so far advanced. 
There are about a dozen large ranches scattered over the county in the 
most eligible sites. A little west of Collyer (elevation 2,608 feet), 335 
miles from Kansas City, we pass into the next county, 



40 KANSAS. 

GOVE COUNTY. 

Organized in 1886, it lias now a population of 3,637 to its 1,080 square 
miles. Its surface is rolling prairie, with some bluffs, rough lands and 
ravines adjacent to the streams, which are, the Smoky Hill in the southern 
townships, and Plum Creek and Hackberry Creek through the central por- 
tions. It had in 1889 1,845 acres in wheat, bearing about 27,000 bushels ; of 
corn it raised 150,000 bushels from 14,431 acres ; and of oats, 41,500 bushels 
from 1,184 acres. There were 263 acres in flax, and 447 in broom-corn. 
Horses 2,066, milch cows 2,603, other cattle 7,316, sheep 2,196, swine 471. 
The total assessed valuation for 1888 was $1,335,190. 

QUINTER, 

The first station we pass in this county, is quite a young Quaker town, 
showing the usual Quaker thrift and neatness. These people came from an 
Eastern Kansas county. 

Of the other three stations, Buffalo Park (2,773 feet), Grainfield (2,829), 
and Grinnell (2,912) , Grainfield is the largest place, with a good hotel, and 
a lively local trade with the surrounding country, south and north. 

The railroad lands in this county were also sold in bulk to various 
parties, and, it would seem, with the same lack of successful settlen5tent by 
small farmers. There are eight large ranches scattered over the county. 
The county seat, Gove City, is a small place almost in the exact geograph- 
ical center of the county. On the east line, in section 1, township 14, range 
26, there is a curious natural monument, "Castle Eock," 177 feet high 
above the surrounding prairie — a remnant of the high prairie as it was 
before the waters of long-past geological eras had washed away the softer 
material (erosion). 

"We now enter the two counties farthest west, in which the railroad lands 
were first offered for sale about March 1, 1887, and in ten months, until the 
close of the year, the railroad company sold, of nearly one million acres in 
this territory, more than one-fourth, and all to actual settlers who have seen 
the lands and determined to occupy them. The lands in these western 
counties are nearly all moderately rolling, smooth prairie, nine-tenths suit- 
able for agriculture, possessing almost universally a good, strong, rich and 
deep soil. Splendid water is easily obtained at from 30 to 100 feet. All the 
government lands in these counties have been taken up, and cultivation has 
commenced on many sections. Many enterprising towns already have a 
start, and others are springing up. 

LOGAN COUNTY, 

Which we enter with our arrival at Oakley station, population 350 (376 
miles from Kansas City, 2,981 feet elevation), was organized only in 1888. 
It has 1,080 square miles, 3,529 inhabitants, 3,986 acres in wheat, the yield 
being estimated at from 57,000 to 68,000 bushels ; 18,540 acres in corn, with 
an estimated yield of 278,100 bushels ; oats, 2,367 acres, with 54,500 bushels ; 
165 acres in flax; 357 acres in broom-corn; 1,944 horses, 1,817 milch cows, 



KANSAS. 41 

3,616 other cattle, 446 sheep, 811 swine. Its total assessed valuation in 1888 
was $1,603,986, The value of all the products of field and farm in that year 
was $165,500. There are seven large ranches in this county, whose county 
seat is Russell Springs, in the center of the county on the Smoky Hill River. 
Ot Oakley the Union Pacific has a branch road running in a northwest- 
erly direction to Colby, connecting there with the Salina, Lincoln & West- 
ern Division, of which mention has been made heretofore. 

MONUMENT 

(3,107 feet elevation), is 385 miles from Kansas City, and is a lively young 
town It takes its name from the obelisk monument near the track, erected 
in honor of General John A. Logan, after whom the county is named. 
(Previous to its organization in 1888 the county had been named St. John.) 
From the top of this obelisk it is said that nearly 100 wind-mills may be 
seen. The settler who puts up a wind-mill to pump his water supply to 
where he needs it is to be considered a "stayer;" hence, the larger the 
number of wind-mills, the larger the number of permanent settlers. 

At Winona, population 130, in 3,303 feet altitude, we are 398 miles west 
of Kansas City. 

One mile west of Lisbon station, near the water tank, we cross the 
North Fork of the Smoky Hill, here only a little rill, but about seven miles 
to the southeast it unites with the somewhat stronger South Fork. 

McAllister has been built by Topeka parties for a summer resort. 

FIELD SPORTS. 

In all this Central and Western Kansas game has become scarce. After 
the railroad came the buffaloes were chased and killed for their hides, and 
they are now extinct. Antelopes are sometimes seen, having strayed in 
from Nebraska or Colorado. Quails and prairie chickens (ruffled grouse) 
are protected by law. The farmers also very properly object to having 
these useful birds killed, for they destroy such numbers of injurious insects 
that the living bird is much more valuable than the dead one. The long- 
legged, long-eared jack rabbit affords good sport for man, horse and dog, 
so does the wily coyote (prairie wolf). 

At Turkey Creek station we cross the county line into 

WALLACE COUNTY, 

Area, 900 square miles, organized in 1888, with 2,644 population. It raised 
in 1890 10,134 bushels of wheat, 153,000 bushels of corn on 10,195 acres, 
3,520 bushels of oats on 352 acres ; there were also 323 acres in broom-corn, 
and ten acres in castor beans. Horses 1,113, milch cows 1,434, other 
cattle 2,900, sheep 3,270. There are about a dozen large ranches in the 
county. 

WALLACE STATION , 

Is the end of a division of the railroad, population 350, with round-house, 
repair shops and residence for the division superintendent. All these will 



42 KANSAS. 

be removed to Cheyenne Springs in Colorado, forty-one miles farther west. 
The station with its park, hotel, and railroad buildings, is located at the 
northwest corner of a military reservation, on which Fort Wallace was 
located. The reservation is a strip of smooth bottom-land about two miles 
wide and seven miles long down the Smoky Hill Valley, which feature 
explains its selection. The records of weather observations were kept 
here by the army officers, and after the abandonment of the fort, the rail- 
road officers continued them. For the period of eight years the average 
annual rainfall amounted to 17.24 inches, which will probably increase 
somewhat as we proceed northward into Sherman and Cheyenne counties. 
We here have to change our time to Mountain time, one hour slower. 
The county seat of this young county has been located at 

SHARON SPRINGS, 

Distant from Kansas City 429 miles, 3,419 feet altitude, an active little 
place, 500 people, with county court-house, school, water-works, stores, etc. 
The last station in Kansas that we pass is Weskan, 3,800 feet elevation, 
and at the State line we are 3,842 feet west of the 444th mile post. 
Where we cross the line, there is on the north side of the track an iron 
cone, black and red, which indicates the 78th mile from the extreme 
northwest corner of the State of Kansas, due north from here. 

RAINFALL IN KANSAS. 

Much has been said and printed of late about "the increase of rainfall 
in Kansas." Carefully made observations, dating in one instance back to 
the time previous to the settlement by white people, do not present any 
ground for such speculative assertions. But a change for the better has 
undoubtedly taken place, and in this way: — 

The original wild grass which covered all the vast prairies of the West, 
the buffalo grass, forms a sward perfectly impervious to rain , water is shed 
by it as by a sheep pelt. Its presence always indicates a deep and strong 
soil. As it is plowed up, the soil is uncovered, and drinks in all the rain 
that falls upon it. 

Formerly, the creeks and streams would rise rapidly and swell up to 
over-flowing in a few hours after every shower. Now, they rise slowly, 
and fall as slowly, even after heavy rains. The buffalo grass is being 
crowded out, even on the unbroken pastures, by a long-stemmed variety, 
the "blue stem," equally good for grazing as for hay-making. We regard 
all these changes as sure indications that with increased Cultivation of the 
surface, more moisture becomes available; and the thoughtful farmer 
assists nature by plowing a little deeper every year. 

The records of rainfall kept at Fort Leavfnworth (in longitude 94° 
54' west) in the Missouri Valley, and on the extreme east line of Kansas, 
date from 1836. In periods of ten years the average rainfall observed 
was: — 



KANSAS. 



43 



From 1837 to 184G (ton years) 30.4 inches 

" 1847 " 1856 " " 32.3 

" 1857 " 18(35 (nine years) 33.7 " 

" 18G7 " 187(5 (ten years) 32.2 " 

" 1877 " 1883 (seven years) 32.9 " 



1874 24.21 inches 

1875 25.51 " 



THE LEAST AMOUNTS FELL IN 
1882 



.22.07 inches 



THE LARGEST AMOUNTS FELL IN 



.41.70 inches 



1872 44.21 inches I 1870 

1877 44.01 " 1 

In 1888 it amounted to 41.84 inches 

"1889" " " 32.49 " 

About one hundred and forty miles west from the eastern State! line (in 
longitude 96° 35' and 1,300 feet above sea level) is Fort Riley, where simi- 
lar observations have been made and recorded since 1853 In periods of 
ten years the average annual rainfall observed was: — 

From 1854 to 1863 (ten years) 23 . 68 inches 

" 1864 " 1873 " " 24.22 

" 1874 " 1883 " " 26.26 

" 1884 " 1888 (five years) 22.09 

This point is located so that it may be taken as a fair representative for 
all Central Kansas, nearly up to the 100th meridian, in Trego county. 

THE LEAST AMOUNTS FELL IN 



1854 16 . 93 inches 

1860 15.36 " 



1874 15 . 14 inches 

1886 18.01 " 



THE LARGEST AMOUNTS FELL IN 



1876 37.38 inches 

1879 33.06 " 

1877 32.68 " 

1871 32.19 " 



1858 31.97 inches 

1869 31.69 " 

1861 31.68 " 

1872 31.55 " 



The annual average for the period from 1854 to 1888, taking one year with 
another, is 25.18 inches, of which 



April has 1.95 inches" 

May " 

June " 

July 

August " 



.3.16 
.3.94 
.3.68 
.3.51 



Growing season. 



The winter months hav(! from 0.50 to 1.95. 



46 KANSAS. 

the other hand, extended from the 18th of November to the 15th of 
February. 

The average number of days when the mercury reached ninety degrees 
at Lawrence, during thirteen summers, was thirty-nine. 

But though the thermometer indicates a higher temperature on a greater 
number of days than in the States of the same latitude to the east of us, 
the heat is, on the whole, much easier borne than there. First, the 
nights are invariably cool. Second, the air is in almost constant circula- 
tion — rarely becomes calm. Third, the most important modifier of heat is 
the dryness of our Kansas atmosphere, which cools the body by rapid 
evaporation, and makes the high temperature of midsummer easy to 
endure. The greater the amount of moisture in the air, the more oppres- 
sive becomes the heat; so that eighty degrees in Philadelphia or Boston 
is far more intolerable than ninety degrees in Lawrence or in Hays City. 

The average date of the last light frost of spring is April 22; that of the 
first light frost in autumn is September 25, giving an average interval of 
157 days entirely without frost. The period of freedom from severe frosts 
is considerable longer, averaging 200 days, from about the 4th of April to 
the 18th of October. The April frosts are seldom severe enough to 
materially injure fruit-buds. 

SOIL. 

In nearly every portion of the State the soil is a dark, rich loam, 
composed of the accumulated mold of the vegetation of ages, mixed with 
fine, silicious grains of sand and lime. We have no "hard pan," except 
in a few counties on the Missouri border; have no "gumbo," and conse- 
quently no "craw-fish" prairies. The surface soil is so porous that the 
heaviest rains are almost completely absorbed. "More rain, more rest," 
does not hold good in Kansas. The morning after a night's rain the farmer 
can plow or cultivate his corn field without fear of packing and baking the 
ground. The rain is stored in the soil, and is accessible tc the roots of 
the crops during long weeks of cloudless, sunny weather. That is one 
of the secrets of the peculiar success of crop-raising in our State, and the 
intelligent farmer assists nature by plowing a little deeper every year 
and loosening the subsoil. 

Our ground is very easily plowed, as it turns nicely; the three-horse 
riding plow, cutting a sixteen-inch furrow, is coming into quite general 
use, and is doing quick, thorough work. So easily is the soil worked and 
planted that not a few shiftless people will scatter oats, for instance, in a 
corn-stubble field, and then run a harrow through it, expecting to raise a 
crop in such a sluggard manner, and frequently succeeding, too. 

"The soil of both valley and high prairie is the same fine, black, rich 
loam so common in Western States. The predominating limestones, by 
this disintegration, aid in its fertility, but the extreme fineness of all the 
ingredients acts most effectively in producing its richness. * * * A few 
exceptions to this general rule exist in the extreme southwestern 
counties, but they contain only a small portion of the whole. * * * A very 



KANSAS. 47 

-common opinion prevails, that the land lying near the Colorado line coh- 
tains numerous alkali springs, and that the surface is sometimes covered 
-with white alkali deposits. This is not so. During fifteen years' acquaint- 
ance with that portion of the State I have seen but two springs appearing 
to contain that substance, and never found ten acres of land in one place, 
where the vegetation had been injured by it." — Professor B. F. Mudge, 
.State Oeologist. 

The soil on the high, rolling prairies is several feet deep, resting fre- 
■quently on gravel, and under that is found the magnesian limestone, 
■which rock formation underlies the whole State. 

BUILDING STONE. 

The most abundant and best building material in the State is lime- 
stone. A heavy stratum of it, sixty feet in thickness, extends from the 
Nebraska line, in Jewell county, over 160 miles in a southwesterly direc- 
tion, crossing the Solomon, Saline, and Smoky Hill valleys, and disappear- 
ing in Hodgeman county. The layers composing it are of quite uniform 
■quality in all localities. It is wrought easily, is durable, and forms hand- 
some buildings at low cost, and improves in hardness on exposure. It also 
gives a good quick-lime. That known as the Junction City stone is soft, 
of a fine grain, an^, ".sm be sawed with a common saw and smoothed 
with a carpenter's plane, and is at the same time firm enough to be dur- 
able. This is seen in the buildings at Fort Riley, erected thirty years ago. 
They not only stand firmly, but the marks of the quarryman's tools are 
still clearly visible on the outer walls, being scarcely changed by the action 
of the elements. 

In Ellsworth and Lincoln counties a hard sandstone is found and exten- 
sively used for buildings and fences. Farther west, in Russell and Ellis 
counties, a soft limestone of beautiful colors in strata, gold, rose, and 
white, is found; when sawed in the shape and size of bricks it forms a 
very cheap and handsome building material. The towns of Wilson, Bun- 
ker Hill, Russell, and Hays City are mostly built of this stone, and the 
farmers prefer it to lumber for their own dwellings, stables, barns, and 
outhouses. 

LIME AND HYDRAULIC CEMENT. 

Lime for mortar can be obtained almost everywhere. Hydraulic lime- 
stone for cement is found near Fort Scott, Lawrence, and Leavenworth, 
and exists probably in many other places. 

GYPSUM (PLASTER OF PARIS) 

Occurs in many places and in great masses. At Blue Rapids it is already 
manufactured into plaster of Paris of a quality equal to the best in eastern 
markets. In Saline county, near the Smoky Hill River, along Gypsum 
Creek, there is a very large deposit. In later times this plaster will become 
a valuable fertilizer for the tame grass and clover pastures of the State. 



48 KANSAS. 

SALT 

A tract of country about thlrty-flve miles wide and eighty long, crossing 
the Republican and Saline valleys, will furnish Kansas and the neighbor- 
ing States with all the salt they may require. The deposit has not been 
uncovered, but the indications are plainly seen in the numerous salt springs 
and extensive salt marshes The value of Kansas salt is enhanced by its 
purity, containing only 3 per cent of impuiities. Recently rock salt in 
thick beds has been discovered at Ellsworth and Kanapolis 

Extensive salt works are in flourishing operation at the town of Solo- 
mon, near the junction of the Solomon with the Smoky Hill; they already 
cover nearly twenty acres with their evaporating vats and drying sheds. 
Good salt springs and wells in other parts of the State have not as yet- 
been utilized. 

LEAD AND ZINC 

Are found in rich deposits in Southeastern Kansas, close to the Missouri 
line. They are already extensively mined. 

MANGANESE. 

A large deposit of this valuable mineral is still awaiting its first 
development. 

COAL. 

A soft, light lignite coal is found in Washington, Republic, Cloud, 
Mitchell, Lincoln, Ottawa, Saline, Ellsworth, McPherson, Rice, Barton, 
Russell, and probably some adjoining counties. It contains a great per 
cent of ashes, and crumbles upon exposure to rain and frost. Notwith- 
standing these defects, it becomes of value in the sparsely-timbered prairie 
country, by furnishing the settlers a cheap fuel which may be had almost 
for the labor of getting it. The really good bituminous coal is found 
in the eastern counties below Kansas City, Fort Scott and Cherokee coal 
being already an article of great commercial and manufacturing value. 
It can be bought in all the railroad towns for about $i a ton. All the 
western counties which are touched by the Colorado railroads, have the 
splendid semi-anthracite coal of Colorado broaght to them at about five dol- 
lars a ton. 

CHALK 

Is found in extensive deposits in Trego county. It is of rare purity, and 
will become a source of rich Income when the country Is more developed. 

TIMBER AND FRUIT TREES. 

Three-fourths of the State is amply supplied with forest. The eastern 
division has more timber than is needed for fuel, and a fair supply for 
fencing and building purposes. The middle division has enough for shel- 
ter for live stock. The western division has much less, but still enough 
in most of the counties for present needs. The mildness of the climate 
requires less fuel than in tne eastern and northwestern States. The west- 



KANSAS. 49 

em counties use little or no wood for fencing, because they have a herd law; 
do not need fences, and build none. All the streams of Kansas have 
borders or belts of timber, ranging from forty rods to a mile in widtli, with 
the exception of a few which run out into the plains and high table- 
lands of the western counties. These streams are so well distributed over 
the State that the distribution of timber could hardly be better equalized. 
The counties having the poorest timber supply have, in good measure, 
compensation for the want of it in the finest and most available building 
stone in the Western country. In the east division the market has a full 
supply of cord-wood at S3 to S5 per cord, and in the settled portions of 
the western division at .153 to §6 per cord, the price depending on the quality 
aud distance to haul. The native varieties are cottonwood, white, black, 
red, swamp and burr oak; red, white and water elm; white, blue and black 
ash; linden, sycamore, willow, sugar and soft maple, black walnut, hack- 
berry, box-elder, pecan, hickory, and some of the smaller varieties, like 
iron-wood, box-wood, etc. The per cent of native forest in sixty-six 
counties runs from 16 down to 1, the average being 5.27 per cent for the 
entire territory embraced in said counties. Since the annual prairie 
fires were checked by the cultivation of lands, the opening of highways, 
and other causes, the timber belts have widened at a rapid rate, and 
to-day there is fully 10 per cent more native wood in Kansas than when it 
was organized as a Territory, notwithstanding the constant consumption. 
Tree-planting has become a great interest of later years. In many of the 
older counties there are thousands of acres in domestic forest. These 
groves have attained a height of from fifteen to sixty feet, the trees having a 
diameter of from three to fifteen inches. The annual growth is from 
one to two inches diameter, and a four or five-year-old forest will thereafter 
furnish a good supply of fuel for the family. In the homestead counties, 
where the Government has stimulated artificial forestry by the " Timber 
Act," giving any man, or head of family, 160 acres of land on the condition 
of his or her planting forty acres of the same in timber and caring for it 
seven years, beautiful groves of cottonwood, ash, box-elder, maple and 
walnut dot the country in every direction, and lend a charm to the prairie 
landscape quite beyond the power of description. These charming groves 
will be as numerous and noteworthy in the near future of Kansas as the 
orchards of Michigan and Western New York. Columns of forest trees 
outline the farms and highways for miles and miles, in many districts, and 
It is no unusual thing for a farmer to plant 1,000 young trees in a single 
year. With the pretty valley timber belts and artificial groves grown 
into stateliness, ten years from to-day Kansas will be one grand, continuous 
park, and the most beautiful country under the sun. Beyond the questions' 
of abundant and cheap fuel, building and fencing timber, and embellish- 
ment of landscape, which are involved in extended tree-planting, these 
groves will superinduce rainfall, temper the February and March winds, 
and give increased equability to the climate. The State of Kansas is doing 
good work in its two Forestry Stations, one located immediately west of 
Ogalla, in Trego county, where such trees are grown for free distribution 
as have proved to be adapted to our soil and climate. 



50 KAJS8AS. 

FENCING AND. THE HERD LAW. 

Fencing is an important item in all countries, and especially in a new 
region where the settlers are mostly men of limited means. The total 
capital invested in fencing in the United States would twice pay the- 
National debt. The outlay in cash and labor on fences in this new country 
is astonishing. But the chief concern of the Kansas farmer about fencing: 
centers in hedging. The 46,000 miles already grown are of the famous 
Bois cVAre (Osage Orange), the most beautiful and perfect material that 
ever went into the construction of a fence. It is almost indigenous to- 
the country, growing wild in all parts of the neighboring Indian 
Territory. In the form of a hedge it comes the nearest to perfection 
in Central Kansas, and is so easily and cheaply grown that no farmer 
who must fence at all is excusable for being without it. One bushel 
of Osage Orange seed, costing S4, will give 750 plants, sufficient to fence- 
half a dozen farms. It will turn domestic animals the third year after 
planting. One hundred dollars, judiciously expended, will plant and 
grow a mile of perfect hedge. In summer it is the most beautiful fence in. 
the world. 

While they are busy planting hedges in Eastern Kansas, they have the- 
herd law in Western Kansas, and the herdsman must take care of his flocks.. 
No farmer is compelled to fence his estate or crops, and a great country 
of wheat and corn fields, orchards, vineyards, and lawns, with not a vestig© 
of fencing, is a novel and refreshing sight. Half the earnings of the 
Eastern farmer are wasted in protecting his crops. The herd law of 
Kansas gives ample protection, for it is intrenched in popular sentiment 
and is rigidly enforced. 

It stimulates settlement and development. Most of the farmers came 
here poor, and could not fence if they would. 

The herd law makes it possible for them to start in a race for a home- 
and competence. 

Other things being equal, the herd law is the best impulse to settle- 
ment in a prairie country. It is in force now in nearly every one of 
the counties in the western half of the State. 

ORCHARDS AND VINEYARDS. 

Fruit culture is a prime interest in Kansas, and the extent of its 
cultivation throughout Eastern and Central Kansas is a matter of surprise 
to visitors. No country within the "fruit belt," from the Atlantic to the 
mountains, gives more prolific crops of apples, peaches, and grapes, or fruit, 
of finer quality. Pears, cherries, plums, apricots, nectarines, and the 
smaller fruits of the garden are all successfully grown. Douglas, Wyandotte,, 
Leavenworth, Brown, Doniphan, Johnson, Labette, Lion, Riley, Bourbon^ 
Cherokee, Crawford, Coffee, Allen, Wilson, Neosho, Montgomery, Jackson^ 
Marshall, Shawnee, Pottawatomie, Wabaunsee, Geary, Morris, Dickinson,, 
Saline, Clay, and other of the old counties, have each a good list of 
orchards that would do honor to Michigan. 



KANSAS. 



51 



The quality of Kansas fruits is a matter of general remark with the 
fruit men of the older States. In 1809 the National Pomological Society, 
at Philadelphia, by a unanimous vote awarded to Kansas its great golden 
medal "for a collection of fruit unsurpassed for size, perfection, and 
flavor." In 1871 the American Pomological Society, at Richmond, Va., 
awarded Kansas "the highest premium for the largest and best display 
of fruit, unequaled in size, beauty, and elegance, during the session of 
the American Pomological Society." Medals and diplomas for Kansas 
fruit have also been given by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, the 
St. Louis Fair, the New York State Fair at Albany, the New Hampshire 
Agricultural Society, the New England Fair at Lowell, Mass., the 
Illinois State Fair, the Minnesota State Fair, etc. 



THE GOLDEN BELT. 

There is a strip of country from forty to sixty miles wide, extending 
through the center of the State from its eastern line to the extreme 
west, that for its richness and beauty has very aptly been denominated the 
" Golden Belt." It embraces the valleys of the Republican, Solomon, Saline, 
and Smoky Hill rivers, and through its middle line the Kansas Division of 
the Union Pacific Railway has been constructed. A glance at the map 
will show the location of the counties generally included in it. What they 
raised in 1889 of the three principal crops, the following table will show:— 



Counties 



Barton 

Clay 

Dickinson — 

Ellis 

Ellsworth 

Geary* 

Gove 

Graham 

Greely 

Lincoln 

Logan 

McPherson 

Osborne 

Ottawa 

Pottawatomie . 

Eice 

Riley 

Rooks 

Rush 

Russell 

Saline 

Sheridan 

Sherman 

Thomas 

Trego 

Wallace 



Wheat. 



Acres. Bushels. 



82,755 

8,525 

47,634 

46,352 

56,374 

7,917 

1,845 

6,235 

1,513 

37,861 

3,986 

85,032 

27,928 

36,810 

7,828 

51,963 

4,516 

25,508 

35,270 

34,135 

87,777 

7,151 

3,877 

11,761 

4,708 

479 



2,057,630 

169,708 

995,664 

1,203,112 

1,575,429 

189,004 

27,033 

80,020 

15,130 

981.710 

57,153 

2,039,580 

516,289 

868,440 

171.478 

1,299.050 

97,882 

499.635 

845.864 

818,214 

2,018,646 

85,367 

60,035 

166,657 

46,919 

5,5CS 



Acres. Bushels. Acres. 



Oats. 



71,497 
121,696 
125,.592 
14,402 
41,030 
40,98:3 
14,431 
26,765 
15,454 
45,043 
18,540 
132,375 
80,435 
75,031 
88,060 
92,186 
57,998 
39,537 
19,803 
34,779 
59,780 
24,848 
45,102 
41.944 
9.6S3 
10,195 



2,073,413 


8,085 


5,963,104 


39,068 


6,279,600 


47,571 


475,266 


4,361 


1.518.110 


6,409 


1,639,320 


8,271 


144,310 


1,184 


695,890 


6,225 


231,810 


691 


2,026,935 


12,601 


278,100 


2,367 


4,895,000 


47.176 


3,860,880 


11,783 


3,376,395 


19,631 


4,579,120 


18,006 


8,963,998 


18,141 


2,899,900 


18,375 


1,581,480 


15,086 


455,469 


2,814 


1,078,149 


4,339 


2,749,880 


17,128 


670,896 


5,730 


1,262,856 


3,609 


&38,830 


5,096 


271,124 


2,017 


152,925 


352 



Bushels. 



299,145 
1,586,720 
1,664,985 
165,718 
224,315 
206,775 

41,440 
155,625 

10,-365 
567,045 

54,440 
1,792,688 
636,282 
745,978 
613,998 
780,063 
753,374 
467,666 

87,234 
164,882 
719,134 
144,600 

72,180 
137,592 

46,391 
3,520 



♦Formerly named Davis. 



62 



KANSAS. 

LANDS OF THE UNION PACIFIC RAILWAY. 

Headquarters at Omaha, Nebraska. 
B. A. McALLASTEE, Land Commissioner. 



Statement of number of acres of land for sale by the Union Pacific Railway- 
Company in the following counties in Kansas; also 
maximum and minimum price per acre. 



Counties. 



Number of 

acres 

for sale. 



Price per acre. 



Lowest. 



Highest. 



Johnson 

Douglas 

Pottawatomie 
Wabaunsee . . 

Riley 

Geary . 

Dickinson . . . 

Clay 

Saline 

McPherson . . 

Lincoln 

Ellsworth 

Rice 

Osborne 

Russell 

Barton 

Rooks 

Ellis 

Rush 

Trego 

Gove 

Thomas 

Logan 

Wichita 

Sherman 

Wallace 

Greeley 



85 

5 

402 

428 

819 

6,789 

342 

322 

6,172 

1,045 

80 

18,139 

1,202 

5,650 

56,413 

3,434 

9,596 

62,887 

1,090 

4,571 

29,030 

115,780 

195,449 

1,426 

31,558 

139,902 

17,763 



$10 00 


$20 00 


6 00 


10 00 


6 25 
6 25 


10 00 
8 00 






6 00 
6 25 


12 00 

13 50 



5 00 
8 00 
4 00 

4 00 

6 50 

5 00 
4 00 

6 00 



15 00 
15 00 
10 00 
12 00 
10 00 
7 50 

10 00 

11 00 
10 00 

7 50 
15 00 
15 00 

6 00 

6 50 
15 00 

7 00 



TERMS OF SALE. 

Ten Years' Credit. — One-tenth of the purchase money is paid at the 
time of sale. At the end of the first year no part of the principal is due, 
but interest at the rate of seven per cent per annum is paid on the deferred 
princip?il. At the end of the second year, and each year thereafter, one- 
tenth of the principal is due, together with interest on deferred amount, at 
the rate of seven per cent per annum. 

Example: — 160 acres sold March 1,1888, at $4 per acre =$640. Pay- 
ments would be due as follows : — 



KANSAS. 



53 



Patmexts. 


When due. 


Principal. 


Interest. 


Total. 


First 


March 1, 1888 
1889 
1890 
1891 
1892 
1893 
1894 
1895 
1896 
1897 
1898 


$64 00 


"'$46'33' 
40 33 
a5 84 
31 36 
36 88 
23 40 
17 93 
13 44 
8 96 
4 48 


$ 64 00 




40 33 


Third 

Fourth 


64 00 
64 00 
64 00 
64 00 
04 00 
64 00 
64 00 
64 00 
64 00 


104 32 
99 84 


Fifth 


95 36 


Sixth 

Seventh 


90 88 
86 40 


Eighth 

Xinth 


81 92 
77 44 


Tenth 


72 96 


Eleventh 


OS 48 






Total 




$640 00 


$341 92 


$881 93 









No discount allowed for cash. 

Contracts may be paid up in full at any time before maturity, and 
interest will be charged only to the date of final payment; but no discounts 
will be granted in case of anticipated payments. 

Rebate Allowed. — Purchasers of land in Thomas, Gove, Logan, 
and counties west thereof, in Kansas, who settle on the land and erect 
a habitable dwelling thereon within two years from date of contract, will 
be allowed a rebate of 20 per cent of the price of every acre cultivated by 
sowing or planting in a good farmer-like manner within that time. 

Satisfactory evidence of breaking and cultivation must be furnished 
the Land Commissioner before the expiration of two years from the date 
of sale, and the rebate will be credited when final payment is made. 

Land agents, appointed by the Company, will be found at all the princi- 
pal places where railroad lands are for sale. The duty of these agents 
is to show the land and quote prices; and when a tract has been selected, 
to^ fill out the application and attest it. The applicant will then for- 
ward his application and first i>ayment to B. A. McAllaster, Land Com- 
missioner, Omaha, 'Neb. Here all applications are subject to approval or 
rejection. If accepted, contracts are made out in duplicate and sent to the 
purchaser for his signature, and when returned properly signed, one copy 
of the same duly executed on the part of the Company will be sent to the 
purchaser to retain. 

WESTERN LAND DISTRICT. 

Office at Wa-Keeney, Trego County. 



Counties. Acres. 

Rooks * 

Ellis * 

Graham . * 

Trego * 

Ness * 

Sheridan * 

Gove 8,000 

♦None reported ; probably all taken. 



Counties. Acres. 

Thomas 35,000 

Logan 20,000 

Scott * 

Sherman 2,000 

Wallace * 

Wichita 5,000 

Greeley 5,000 



54 KANSAS. 

WHERE TO SOW— THE SOIL AND ITS PREPARATION. 

A strong clay loam, resting on a friable clay subsoil, is, in Kansas, as 
everywhere, natural grass land. The soil can hardly be too rich, naturally 
or artificially, for grass. Poor lands may be counted on to produce poor 
crops of grass as of everything else; but lands which have become impover- 
ished from any cause may be relied on to exhibit, in the crops grown 
upon them, in an unusual degree, all of the unfavorable influences of the 
climate in general, or of a particular season. Whatever the character of 
the soil, prepare it for the reception of grass seed by as thorough plowing and 
harrowing as is ordinarily done for oats or corn; and follow the seeding with 
alight harrow or roller, or both. Do not seed upon "raw prairie." Except 
in the extreme eastern and northeastern sections of the State, I have never 
known or heard of a "catch" obtafned from unbroken prairie, although 
I have been familiar with a considerable number of costly "experiments" 
made to test this matter. I would in no case attempt seeding grass upon 
land that had not been cropped three years. Never consent to seed with 
some other crop, as wheat or oats; this is a rule with scarcely an exception. 

WHEN TO SOW. 

Our best stands have been had from spring seeding. It is difficult to speak 
accurately here; but do not in any case be tempted to sow grass seed until 
the ground is thoroughly wet from the spring rains. We have rarely found 
it advisable to sow earlier than April 15. The following excerpt, an argu- 
ment for spring seeding, is taken from a report of 1885: "I am aware that 
by many the view is held that, inasmuch as the plant casts its seed in the 
fall season, this is Nature's own time for the sowing of seed, and that, in 
this respect as in so many others, art can do no better than to copy Nature. 
To this, answer may be made that Nature, in her seeding operations, is 
wasteful in the extreme, sowing a thousand seeds that come to nothing 
for every one that develops a plant. Moreover, this argument for fall 
seeding applies equally in the case of corn, oats, and other similar ' spring ' 
grains, which, in a state of nature, are equally with grass seeds sown in the 
fall. Fall seeding may be said to be better than seeding in the spring in 
the case of all plants which make a growth in the fall sufficiently strong to 
withstand the rigors of winter. This, corn and oats and most grasses will 
not do." Timothy and Kentucky blue-grass may be sown late in August 
or early in September with fair prospect of success; but even these have done 
better with us when the seeding has been delayed until spring. 

WHAT TO SOW. 

" Many sorts of grass and clover, are, doubtless, valuable to the agricult- 
ure of the State; and it is equally certain that varieties useful in one 
section or situation are of little value in others. The practical man, how- 
ever, never finds it to his interest to attempt the cultivation of many 
sorts. Usually, two or three varieties complete the list of grasses cultivated 
in any section; and very often a single species like alfalfa, as grown in 



KANSAS. 55 

Southwestern Kansas, satisfies fully the requirements of a large section 
of country. For this reason I refer to but few sorts here; others might, 
beyond question for other localities, be substituted to advantage for those 
commended here. 

'' Mixed orchard-grass and red clover have proved for the general pur- 
poses of the farmer very satisfactory, and, in addition to these, alfalfa is 
strongly commended." 

Immigrants and investors should remember that in the spring and autumn 
of every year the Union Pacific Railway runs bi-monthly excursion trains 
from Kansas City to all points on its line where land is offered for sale. Full 
information may be obtained by addressing F. B. Whitney, General Agent 
Union Pacific Railway, Kansas City. 

EXPERIMENTS WITH WHEAT. 

The Secretary. of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture in his report for 
1888 says: — 

For several years experiments with wheat have been in progress at the 
College farm, having for their object (1) to show the comparative values of 
common and unusual sorts, and (3) to give expression to varying methods of 
treatment. 

The results of our experience with something over one hujidred sorts of 
winter wheat have abundantly satisfied me that the Kansas farmer can 
rely only upon the fine, early-ripening red sorts — often of southern origin — 
of which Early May and Zimmerman are types. These are usually reckoned 
light-yielding sorts, but in Kansas soils, during favorable seasons, they 
often yield enormously. The coarse-growing, late-maturing sorts, like 
Clawson, Lancaster, and Egyptian, sometimes do remarkably well, but 
much pftener they fail miserably. 

On October 1, 1887, forty-nine varieties of winter wheat were sown — 
twenty in contiguous plots in Field B, and twenty-nine in a connected 
series in Field No. 6. The following is a complete list: — 

Bearded King. Golden Prolific. Red Odessa. 

Big English. Higti Grade. Red Russian. 

Deitz Longberry. Hungarian. Rocky Mountain. 

Diehl-Mediterranean. Jennings. Royal Australian. 

Democrat. Martin's Amber. Royal Red. 

Deitz. McGary. Sibley's New Golden. 

Early May. Miller's Prolific. Silver Chaff. 

Early Rice. Missouri Blue Stem. Surprise. 

Egyptian. New Monarch. Tasmanian Red . 

Farquahar. Nigger. The Good. 

Finley. Oregon. Theiss. 

French Prairie. Patagonian Trigo. Tuscan Island. 

Fulcaster. Poole. Valley. 

Fultz. Raub's Black Prolific . Velvet Chaff. 

Genoese. Red Fultz. Walker. 

German Emperor. Red Line. Wicks. 
Gypsy. 

Of these, Hungarian, Red Russian, Red Line, Genoese (wholly killed), 
Sibley's New Golden, The Good, and Surprise suffered most from winter- 
killing, the loss amounting to fully one-half of all the plants, in most 



56 KANSAS. 

cases. The varieties that sustained the least injury were Theiss, Big 
English, Tuscan Island, Diehl-Mediterranean, Gypsy, Fultz, and Finley. 

KANSAS PAST AND PRESENT. 

Two speeches were recently made in Kansas, — one by General Thomas 
Ewing, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, before the State Bar 
Association, at Topeka; and the other by the Hon. David J. Brewer at 
Leavenworth on the eve of his departure for Washington to assume his seat 
as Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Both these 
gentlemen are old residents of Kansas, eminent in public and private life; 
and their recollections of early days are so interesting and instructive that 
they are given herewith. General Ewing said: — 

"Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Kansas Bar Association, Ladies 
and Oentlemeii: — Twenty-nine years ago I had the honor to be chosen by 
the people of Kansas' Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the then pro- 
posed State; and when, in the year following, after her long struggle and 
rude rebuffs, Kansas was admitted to be a State in the Union, I presided at 
the first term of the Supreme Court held near the spot where we are now 
assembled. How changed the scene ! A splendid city rises now with its 
temples, electric railways, flashing lights, and elegant mansions where then 
scarcely a graded street cut the primeval sward or broke the tendrils of the 
wild strawberries and the blue-bells as they rode in wind and sunlight 
on the unbroken waves of the prairie. 



" And how the State has changed ! The Pilgrim Fathers, though tossed 
,by rough seas and starved on barren shores, were not so rudely tried as 
were the pioneers of Kansas. When a rest came after the exhausting strug- 
gle to make her a free State, the seasons brought famine instead of plenty 
in their hands. A more feeble State in population and property, 
or a greater State in the splendid spirit and hardihood of her people never 
knocked at the door of congress for admission. With a population of but 
107,000, impoverished by the long struggle against force and fraud, and by 
the total loss of crops by drouth, she set out on her career with empty barns 
and the certainty of an empty treasury. The State officers were paid poor 
salaries and poor scrip. As Chief Justice, I sold my State scrip at 60 cents 
on the dollar, so that my whole official income was $1,080 for the first year. We 
then thought that the utmost limit of cultivable land was about the meridian 
of Fort Riley, and never dreamed of a day when the sun would look down 
from west of that line on boundless wheat fields, harvested by steam, and on 
millions of cattle fattening to feed the world; nor of a day when Kansas, 
instead of being least of her sisters, should stand as she does now, 
with 1,750,000 people, and the thirteenth in power of the forty-two States 
of the Union. , 

"There is a longing in the human heart akin to that for immortal life to 
have our names live after us, associated with Illustrious or benignant 
events. I think all of us who fought for freedom in Kansas, and who fol- 



KANSAS. 57 

lowed up the fight throughout the war for the Union, may feel this longing 
fully satisfied. It was the sling of the stripling Kansas which slew 
the Goliah slavery. Few men have ever had the chance to serve mankind 
so signally as those of us who wrested this splendid State from the haughty 
and reckless Southern propaganda, and then formed the right wing of that 
glorious army which swept both rebellion and slavery from the land forever. 

" I visit the State of my early manhood now with a heart full of gratitude 
to Almighty God for all the good of which He made her poor, gallant and 
struggling sons the instruments; for sending them here when the Missouri 
compromise was broken by the South, to meet force with force and give 
blow for blow; for arousing North and South alike to the fact that the con- 
flict on the outposts here was the deadly struggle of two hostile and 
irreconcilable civilizations; and for leading the antagonists on to the settle- 
ment by the sword which alone could make the Union free, fraternal, and 
perpetual. 

"A new republic was borixpf the war. Almost all great and sudden 
evolutions are painful and destructive. Old institutions generally perish 
only under blows, at the sacrifice of their hapless and often blameless up- 
holders. Not only secession and slavery, but also the infinitely mischievous 
idea of the ignobility of labor, perished by the war. The youth who fought 
in both armies and survived, came out of them brighter and broader men for 
their trials, especially in the West, where the service was most strenuous 
and the play of individual character most ample. All the latent powers 
and faculties of the people were called into action; and when the struggle 
ended, the impetuous currents of war turned into the channels of business, 
and swept away old Impediments which custom and prejudice had set for 
boundaries. In spite of the infinite losses of life and health by the war; in 
spite of the demoralization of labor and industry throughout the South dur- 
ing the long period of reconstruction; in spite of the enormous burdens of 
public debt ingeniously doubled through contraction of the currency, the 
last two decades have witnessed a greater development of American civiliza- 
tion and industry than was ever known in any equal period of our history. 
The people have thus been lifted up to recognize their own powers, the in- 
finite resources of their country and its mission as the torch-bearer of 
freedom and civilization for the world. 



"And now, my friends, I have only to thank you for your attention and 
bid you good-night. It has given me great pleasure to revisit Kansas, the 
State of my early political, professional, and married life; which honored 
me with its dignities, with a seat on its supreme bench, and with the still 
higher honor and authority to bo captain over 1,000 of the best and bravest 
of its sons in the glorious fight for the Union. Though separated from 
Kansas and its affairs by half a life-time and half a continent, I have almost 
daily gone back in memory to its billowy and beautiful landscapes, and to 
my old friends and companions here; and after this brief and charming visit 
I shall bid adieu to them again, with revived and strengthened affection. 



58 



KANSAS. 



May God bless Kansas ! May her heroic service for freedom and the Union 
be treasured as the proudest inheritance of her sons and her daughters for- 
ever ! May length of days be in her right hand, and in her left hand riches 
and honor, and may her ways be ways of pleasantness, and all her paths be 
peace! " 

Judge Brewer, in responding to the toast of his health, said: — 

"An emigrant built his cabin on one of our Western plains. With him 
was his little boy, who was coming to that age when boys so quickly take 
in all their surroundings. One day the boy stood at noon before the door 
of the cabin looking up at the sun in the zenith, and after reflecting a 
moment he broke out with, ' Why, pap, we are in the center of the uni- 
verse, ain't we? ' That boy is the typical Kansan. 



"No State has within equal limit of time ever been robed in its history 
with so much of achievement and splendor. She has more miles of railroad 
than any State save Illinois, and although but a babe in the sisterhood of 
the States she will number nearly two million in the coming census. In 
my boyhood's geography Kansas was put down as the ' Great American 
Desert,' and yet she has made the wilderness to blossom as the rose; but 
grander far than any material development has been the pathway which 
she has lined with school-house and church. Go where you will through 
her borders, and there stands before you the open door of the school-house, 
in whose portal is the ever-present Yankee 'schoolmarm,' — priestess of 
virtue and prophetess of knowledge and glory; while the spires of a thou- 
sand churches attest the universal faith in Him for whose worship our 
fathers crossed the sea. Though my work in the future must largely be in 
Washington, I shall continue to write my name in gratitude and pride, 'of 
Leavenwofth, Kan.'" 



ELEVATION OF TOWNS ON THE KANSAS PACIFIC DIVISION OF 
THE UNION PACIFIC. 

Kansas Pacific Main Line and Branches. 



Feet. 

Kansas City 681 

Armstrong 690 

Muncy 717 

Ed wardeville 709 

Bonner Springs 739 

Lenape 721 

Linwood 733 

FaULeaf 743 

Lawrence Junction — 749 

Lawrence '. 763 

Leavenworth 712 

Williamstown 789 

Perryville 786 

Medina 789 

Newman 796 

Grantville 812 

Topeka 831 



Feet. 

Silver Lake 855 

Rossville 871 

St. Mary's 899 

Belvue 901 

Wamego 929 

St. George 937 

Manhattan 957 

Ogdensburg 989 

Fort Riley 1009 

Junction City 1021 

Kansas Falls 1033 

Chapmau 1050 

Detroit (Ent.) 1073 

Abilene 1093 

Solomon 1111 

New Cambria 1138 

Saliua 1163 



KANSAS. 



59 



ELEVATION OF TOWISS.— Continued. 



Feet. 

Bavaria 1205 

Brookville 1287 

Carueiro . 1503 

KanopoHs 1513 

Ellsworth 1471 

Wilson 16-.J7 

Bunker Hill 1802 

Russell : 17(35 

Victoria 1851 

Hays 1936 

Ellis 2056 

Ogalla 2318 

Wa-Keeney 2391 

Collyer 2517 

Buffalo Park 2695 

Grainfield 2743 

Grinnell 2843 

Oakley 2981 

Monument 3107 

Winona a303 

Lisbon 3079 

Wallace 3386 

Sharon Springs 3419 

Monotony 3741 

Elwood 817 

Wathena 818 

Blairs 897 

Troy 1093 

A. & N. Junction 1110 

Norway 1042 

Ryans 892 

Severance 903 

Leona 918 

Robinson 950 

Mannville 973 

Hiawatha 995 

Hamlin 1984 

Morrill 1098 

Sabetha 1308 

Oneida 1219 

Seneca 1152 

Bailevville 1294 

Axtell 1363 

Beattie 1293 

Home 13.39 

Marysville 1155 

Herkimer 1238 

Hanover 1225 

Hund 777 

Pleasant Ridge 1028 

Easton 850 

Lee 985 

Winchester 1105 

Valley Falls 858 

Larkin &S5 

Drake 919 

Holton 9.59 

Circlevile 1013 

Soldier 1131 

Havensville 1112 

Savannah 1051 



Feet. 

Onaga 1040 

Blaine 1450 

Fostoria 1394 

Olsburg 1374 

Garrison 1005 

Garrison Crossing 1004 

Leonardville 1332 

Green 1234 

Clay Centre 1142 

Idana 1200 

Miltonvale 1319 

Oketo 1157 

Marysville 1136 

Blue Rapids 1098 

Irving 1084 

Randolph 1045 

Garrison Crossing 1038 

Manhattan ■ 957 

Alida 1048 

Milford 1041 

Wakefield 1091 

Broughton 1128 

Clay Centre 1142 

Morganville 1177 

Clifton 1216 

Vinning 1216 

Clyde 1238 

Lawrenceburg 1268 

Concordia 1305 

Christie 1280 

Talmo 1304 

Belleville 1490 

Verdi 1141 

Bennington 1162 

Lindsay 1181 

Minneapolis 1195 

Summerville 1234 

Delphos 1239 

Glasco 1358 

Brittsville 1373 

Asherville 1285 

Beloit 1322 

South Leavenworth 699 

Leavenworth Junction 697 

Lansing 728 

Fairmount 891 

Hoge 790 

Big Stranger 770 

Moore's 851 

Tonganoxie 787 

Reno 764 

Lawrence Junction 749 

Assarea 1223 

Bridgeport 1240 

Lindsborg 1270 

McPherson 1430 

Culver 1303 

Tescott 1235 

Beverly 1268 

Lincoln Centre 1311 

Lucas 1656 



WILL TELL YOU ALL ABOUT IT. 

Any Ticket As(nit in the United Slates or Caiiada can sell Tickets, clieck BagKage. and arran 

for rullmaii I'alacre Sleei)ing Car herllis, via tlie Union I'acide Ilailwfn . 

Do ni)t,coniplele yonr arrangements for a Western trip niUil yoti liave 

applied to the undersigned. Additional information, Maps, 

Time Tables, etc., will be chcerfnlly furnished. 



BOSTON, MASS.— 200 WashinRton St.— W. S. 
CoNiucLL, New England Freight and Pas- 
senger Agent. 
v.. M. Nr.WBKciN. Traveling Freight and 
Passenger Agent. 

BUTTK, MONT.— Cor. MaiTi and Broadway.— 

E. X. Ma/.k, (ieneral Agent. 

CHATTANOOGA, TK\\.-P. O. Box, 54S.— 

F. I.. Ly.nde, Traveling Passenger Agent. 

CHEYENNE, WTO.— C. \V. Sweet, Freight and 

Ticket Agent. 
CHICAGO, ILL.— 191 S.Clark St.— W.H.Knigtit, 
(ien'l Agent Freight and Passenger l)ej)'ts, 
T. \V. Yoi'Nc., Travelinir Passenger Agent. 
r>. W. .ToiiNSTON. Traveling Passenger Agent. 
W. T. Hoi-LY, City Passenger Agent. 

CINCINNATI, OHIO.— 27 West Fourth St.— J.D. 
Welsh, General Agent Freight and Pius- 
senger Pepartnients. 

A. (i. Shearman, Traveling Freight and Pas- 
senger Agent. 

T. C. HiiisT, Traveling Passenger Agent. 
COUNCIL BLUFFS, IOWA.— 

.\. J. JL\Ni)EKsoN,Gen'l Agent, U.P.Transfer. 

R. W. Ohambeulaix. Passenger Agent. 

.T. W. Mavnaki), Ticket Agent. 

J. 0. Mitchell, City Ticket Agent. 

DENVER, COL.— 1703 Larimer St.— Geo. Ai>y, 
General Agent. 
C. H. TiTfs. Traveling Passenger Agent. 

E. G. Pattehsok, (Uty Ticket A sent. 

F. (4. EuB, City Passenger Agent. 

E. F. Lacksek, Ticket Agent, Union Depot. 
DES MOINES, IOWA.— 21.S Fourth St.— E. M. 
FoiiD, Traveling Passenger Agent. 

FT. WORTH, TEX.— D. B. Kkeleis. General 
Freight A: Pa.ss. Agent, Ft. Worth & I>. C. Ky . 

A. .r. Ratcltffe, Traveling Pa,ssenger Asent. 

N. S. Davis, City Ticket Agent, 401 Main 
Street. 



HELENA, MONT.— -iS North Main St.— IT. 
WiLsox, Freight and Passenger Agent. 



KANSAS CITY, MO — 10;W Union Ave.— J. B. 
FraM'lev, General Agent. 
,T. B. Reese, Traveling Passenger Agent. 
H. K. Phoi'deit, Citv Passenger Agent. 
T. A. Shaw, Ticket Agent. 
C. A.WiiiTTiEK.City Ticket Agent. 
A. W. MiLL-sPAi'iiH, Ticket Ag't, Union Depot. 

LONDON, ENGLAND. -Lndgate Circus.— Thos. 
CuuK it^ioN, Eiu'opean Passenger Agents. 

LOS ANGELES, CAL.-221) South Spring St.— 
G. F. Hkkk, Passen,ger Agent. 

NEW WHATCOM, W,\SH.-J. W. Alton, Geu'l 
.Vgeni Freight and Passenger Departments, 

NEW YORK CITY.— 2S7 Broadway.— R. Ten- 
URiiECK, General Eastern Aireni. 
J. D. Tenhiioei'K, Traveling Passenger Agent. 
fi. A. Hi'TCHLsoN. Traveling Passenger Agent. 
Wm. .\. DoLAN, Traveling; Passenger Agenl. 
.T. F. Wiley, City Passenger .Vt^cnt. 



OAKLAND, CAL.-Twclfth and Brondway- 

(iEo. B. Sea.ma.n, Passenger Agent. 
OGDEN, UTAH.— Union Depot.— C. A. ITe.n'i;v, 

Ticket Agent. 
OLYMPIA, WASH.— Percivnl's Wharf.— .1. C. 

Percival, Ticket Agent. 
OMAHA, NEB.— l:!i)2 Farnani St-IlAiu;v P. 
Deuel, city Ticket Agent. 
FiSANK N. PRoiaiET, City Passenger Agent. 
M. J. Gkeevv, Traveling Passenger Agenl. 

0th and Farnani streets. 
,1. K. Cha.mbei'.s, Ticket Agent, Union Depot. 
PITTSBURGH, PA — 400 Wood St.— S.C. JIiL- 

BOURXE, Traveling Passenger Agent. 
PORTLAND, ORE.— 5-1 Wa.shington St.— W. H. 
HuRLBi'RT, Assistant General I^lss'r Agenl. 
G|E0. H. IIiLL, Traveling Passencrer Agent. 
V. A. Schilling, (Mty Ticket Agenl. 
A. .J. (JooDKicii, Citv Passenger Atrent. 
A. L. Maxwell, Ticket Ag't, Grd.Cent'l Stat. 
PORT ANGELES, WASH.-R.R. Haiidinc. ,Vgt. 
PORT TOWNSEND, W.\SH. -Union Wharf- 

H. R. TiBBALs, Ticket Agent. 
PUEBLO, COL.— 233 2soTth Union Ave.-A. S. 
CuTHP.ERTsoN, General Agent. 

ST. JOSEPH, MO.— Chamber of Commerce.— 
S. M. Adsit, General Freight and Passenger 
Agent, St. J &G. J. R. R. 
F. P. Wade. City Ticket Agent, Corner Sd 

and Francis Sts. 
Jo. Hanson, Ticket Agent, Union Depot. 
ST. LOUIS, MO.— 213 N. 4th St.-.T F. Aclai:. 
Gen'l Agent Frei.srht and Pa.ss. Departments. 
N. HAifiiiT, Traveling Passenger Agent 

E. R. Ti^TTLE, Traveling Pa.ssen.ger Agent. 
Ji. A. Williams, City Fr't and Pas.songer Agt. 

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH.— -.iOl Main St.-P. E. 
BruLEY. General Agent. 
D. S Taggart, Traveling Passenger Agent. 
C. P. Caneielp, Traveling Passen.ger Agent. 

F. F. EccLEs, City Ticket Agent. 
W. S. Evan.-;. City Passenger .Vgent. 

SAN FRANCISCO, CAL.— 1 Montgomery St..- 
D. W. Hitchcock, (ieneviil A,i;ent. 
Malone Joyce, Travelin.L' I'as.-cnsrer .Aroiit. 
W. R. Vice, Pacific Coast Pas.'.'nucr Agent. 
J. F.Fi'<!A7j. Emig.A.g't, 19 Monlgomerj- Ave. 
SEATTLE, WASH.— 703 Second St.— A. C." Mar- 
tin, (General Agent. 
SIOUX CITY, IOWA.-.^.03 Fourth St.-D. M 
Collins, General Agent. 
Geo. E. Abbott. Tr'^ Fr't and Pa.-^s'r Agen. 
H, H. BiKDSALL. City Ticket Agent. 
(lEO. Ledyard, Citv' Passenger Ageiu. 
Geo. F.Wheelock. Ticket .Vg't, Union Depot. 
SPOKANE, WASH.— Cor. River^ide and Wa.sh- 
ington.— Peruy (iRIEElN, P. and Tkt. Agl 
TACOMA,W.4SH.-0(r, I'acitic Ave— 1:.K.1:li is. 

(General .\.s,'enl. 
TRINIDAD, COL.— J. F. I.iNTHt rst, Tkt. Agt. 

VICTORIA, B. C.— 100 Government St.— G. G. 
Rawlins, Ticket Agent. 



E. L. LOMAX, 

General Pa-simger and Ticket .Vgeut, Actin 



J. N. BROWN, 

.\ssistant Gen' I Puss'r and Ticket -Vgelit, 




UNION PACIFIC, 

"THE OVERLAND ROUTE " 
IS THE 

MOST DIRECT LINE 

FROM 

THE MISSOURI RIVER 

TO — 

All Principal Points West, 

And on Account of tlie Varied Character of tlie Country it Traverses, 

(lifers fii tliose wlio contemplate going West a more greatly diversifieil 
territory to select from than does any other 

TRANS-CONTINENTAL LINE. 

Passing as it does through NEBRASKA, KANSAS, TMXAS, JV^W 
MI^XICO, COI^ORABO, WYOMING, UTAH, IDAHO, MO^ 
TANA, ORnCON and WASHINGTON, every hiisiness intnvst is t,. 

Ill' tnimd along its line. .• ." .' .* .* 

Vnv tVio Pci-pmaT' ^lioisands of acres of ricli agricultural land are 
rUl mtj XdimtJI, ^^^ ^^^^^^ ^ ^^ settlement . 

For the Stock-Raiser, J^--"--^^- ^' --"-^^ ^™^-^ ^-'^^ 



et be secured. 



Vnr thp IVTinpr ^''*' great ninuntains of tlie West await hut the open- 
X UI Lllb IVlilitil , j„j^ ,,, ]»,.,., „„^. ti,e source of large fortunes, and 

For the Business Man, ''''' g;^^"^^ ""es and towns of the west 

■J. v/x wj-ivy .L^M.r^xx.tw^Kj ■i.Tj.vuxi, .^j,^^ daily oftering uucqualed opi)ortui:.i- 
lies for investment of capital and hjcation of industries which are unsur- 
passed l»y older sections i>\ the Tnited States. 



I'or jiamphlets descriptive of the above naTued States or Territories, or 
any information rehitive to the rnion I'acilic, call on or address aii.\- agent 
of tills ('om[iany, wlmse luune is given in the list on the inside ci'M-w or 

S. H. H, CLARK, C. S, MELLEN, E, L. LOMAX, 

Vire Pres. a (Ji-ri'l Manager, GiMi'I Traffic Manager, (ien'l Vasseuijer it. Ticket A^ent, 



